Dance of the Hidden Leaves
by Slavok
Summary: Everyone always says that Kimimaro would have been better off with Naruto than with Orochimaru. In this one he did. Naruhina later on
1. Out of the night

Dance of the Hidden Leaves

Chapter One

a/n I own nothing. Nothing at all. Really.

Out of the night that covers me  
Black as the pit from pole to pole  
I thank whatever gods may be  
For my unconquerable soul.

-_Invictus_ by Henley

Amaru could usually tell how a mission was going. When things were boring and seemed exactly like the three other missions he did that month, things were going good. When things involved him getting ambushed, beat up, captured, and imprisoned, things were not going good. Things weren't going good for him this mission.

"Hey kid! We got company for you!" growled his captor as he threw Amaru into a cell. Two red dots on his forehead and a savage love of battle marked him as a Kaguya. "Heh. Maybe they'll end up eating each other."

"You didn't need to say that," Amaru muttered after he left. The Leaf shinobi a bit too far from home struggled around his bonds and bruises to look around. In the dim light he could see what looked like a human spine out carved of the stone wall and a decently carved face. The little kid who lived here apparently had a lot of time on his hands. That and a knife. "Hey, kid. Could you cut me loose?"

He looked back at him from his corner. Even in the darkness the child's eyes had an emerald glow to them, and none of the other Kaguya had white hair, but the red markings on his forehead and below his eyes identified his heritage. "Okay."

"Ah, thanks," he said, massaging his sore wrists. "How'd you get that knife?" They took all his weapons before they threw him in this prison cell.

"I made it."

Ha, kids. "I don't suppose you could make one for me," he joked.

"If you like." He shifted his shirt over his shoulder and focused on the bone in his arm. It grew, bulging out of his shoulder until it finally broke the skin. The calcium in his arm started warping rapidly to form a sharp blade. The man was bigger than he was, so he made his bigger too. When it was complete, he grabbed onto the protruding handle and—ripped it out.

Amaru took it gingerly, examining its weight and form. He saw something almost like that when he was ambushed. One of the Kaguya forced a three foot long bone spike out of the palm of his hand to fight with, but the spike was covered in his own blood, and this kid's sword just had some thin, clear juice on it. "Could you make me some kunai? Throwing knives?"

"How many do you need?" he asked, forming another knife.

"No more than nine." Amaru continued to watch in amazement. _This guy is a one man graveyard armory!_ "Why'd they lock you up in here anyway?"

He paused to think about that, as if "why" was a foreign concept to him. "I believe…I believe they do not want me to get lost. I have a purpose for them. I am needed here."

"What do they need you for?"

"War." That made sense. The Kaguya clan cared about nothing else, and from what Amaru could see, the knives the boy made were lighter, sharper, and maybe even stronger than steel.

"I see, Amaru said. "They have you make weapons for them."

The child looked at him quizzically and shook his head. "They have me fight for them."

"You can fight?"

He nodded.

"How good are you?"

"They do not want me to get lost," he repeated.

Amaru gazed into the darkness as a plan began formulating. From what the kid said, he was treated as a weapon, and even thought of himself that way. He was locked away so the clan's "weapon" couldn't "get lost" instead of "escape." But as they say, a stolen knife is just as sharp as a bought one, and far less predictable.

"Hey, uh…"

"Kimimaro," he supplied.

"Kimimaro. That's enough kunai." He pushed a protruding bone back into his shoulder. "By the way, do you know what they want me for?"

Kimimaro thought for a moment. "Usually, when they bring someone here, it's for Rabbit."

"What's Rabbit?"

"It's a game. At sunrise, they let the rabbit out and see who can kill it before breakfast."

"And I suppose I'm the rabbit," he mused. He played a game like that once before, and that was three times too many. "Hey, Kimimaro. I'll make a deal with you. If you help me get out of here, I'll see to it that you become a free man, and you'll never have to live in this cell again. Or…" he paused for dramatic effect, "you could stay for breakfast."

Kimimaro's green eyes widened as though the prospect of absolute freedom overwhelmed him. Kimimaro couldn't possibly know what he would do should he be free, but that was precisely the point. Freedom by its nature was incomprehensible, providing limitless possibilities. To set a man free was like handing him a box of infinity.

Kimimaro let his breath out and nodded in agreement.

"Good," said Amaru. "Now, the first part of getting out of here is the long, tedious process of—_sawing_—our _way_—through these iron _bars_—"

"You can't," Kimimaro spoke up. Amaru looked back at him. "Those tags." He pointed at the chakra tags that decorated the cell bars.

"Ah! Yes, those pesky, little chakra tags. With those seals on this cage, the bars won't break at all, and those things can't be removed or burned off easily. We're fairly screwed in here." Kimimaro looked down sadly. "Unless," Amaru added deviously. "Unless we have the key."

"You have the key?"

"Yeah, sure, in a matter of speaking." He ran though a set of hand seals. "I'd love to explain my jutsu to you, but that would take all night." The paper tags melted off the bars like wax, forming a small puddle on the floor. "And I really, _really_, don't want to stay for breakfast." He laughed a little. "So that means that _now_ we have the long, tedious process—" Kimimaro slashed his knife through the bars like butter. "Holy crap!" Amaru said with a jump. "What are those things made of!?"

Kimimaro looked from the bars to his knife, not sure which the older man was talking about. "What d-"

"Never mind," he interrupted quickly. "Let's get out of here."

WWW

_Don't move until you see it._ He could see it. Both of them. Members of the Kaguya clan, to make sure Amaru stayed for breakfast, oblivious to the armed shadow behind them. He jumped out of the door, stabbed the closer one through the heart, between the sixth and seventh ribs on the left side, and threw the knife at the other one. The first slumped over without a sound, but the bone weapon was weighted strangely, and the second wasn't going as easily. Sure, he fixed that before the guard hit the ground, but that was the sloppy kind of assassination that could get a guy killed.

He saw Kimimaro wandering out, squinting in the moonlight. That was probably fairly bright for him, compared to his stony cell. "You know the henge?" he whispered. Kimimaro looked at him and shook his head. Not good. He could disguise himself as a local, but Kimimaro, the actual local, with his white hair and pale skin, would stick out. He considered leaving him here, but there was something about abandoning a small child who just freed him from certain death and leaving him to a life of blood and murder in a genocidal village that just didn't seem quite right.

He settled for quietly hiding the corpses. The bloodstains would still be a problem so they would have to move fast. Fast and quiet. "Let's go."

WWW

Amaru couldn't keep going. His first fight with the Kaguya left him with a lot more bruises and cuts than necessary, and he was exhausted to begin with. Kimimaro was fine. He wasn't even breathing hard and just stood there watching him patiently waiting for a sign to keep going. Ha. And he thought that the kid was going to slow him down. But they managed to put some distance between themselves and the village. If they weren't already pursued, they probably wouldn't be. If they weren't already… Amaru looked back. "Oh crap." He looked at Kimimaro. "You mentioned that you can fight. Exactly how good are you?"

"I can be as good as you need me to be."

"Do you have anything against killing people from your clan?"

He hesitated. "Do you want me to?"

Amaru grinned. If only he had a little brother like him. It would make home life a lot more fun. "When we run into your relatives, don't hold back. Because they're going to attack us. Right about…"

"Kimimaro," said a voice. "Who let you out of your cage?"

"He did, Katiro-san," he said politely, pointing at Amaru.

Amaru forced himself to sound confident and relaxed. "So, Katiro, is it? I'll make a deal with you. You can go home and forget all about us, or you can try to get in our way." His eyes narrowed (he hoped) dangerously. "And all of you will die."

The Kaguya threw his head back and roared in laughter. The very trees seemed to cringe as the whole clan joined him. "We of the Kaguya clan _always_ choose death!"

The man Katiro started toward Amaru when Kimimaro dove to intercept him. The older Kaguya grabbed him by the wrist and threw him aside. Kimimaro landed on his feet and dove again, grabbing the man in a deadly embrace as the boy's ribs burst outward like pale, gruesome thorns into the man's flesh.

Only in combat can the Kaguya clan find meaning. The rush of being able to feel the breath of Death himself defined their lives, and not even Death's returning grasp could dampen the thrill of it. That was what was written on Katiro's grinning corpse.

The rest of the clan returned the grin of their fallen leader. "Let's have some fun!"

WWW

Amaru felt like a coward lurking around in the shadows taking out a random foe who let his guard down when a little kid took the bulk of the fighting. He also felt kind of bad that the little kid was completely upstaging him. There was a message to be delivered to the Hokage, and according to regulations that was more important than one not of the Leaf, and he really wanted to _not_ die, but he was no traitor.

He did what he could with his exhausted skills to help him out from a distance, but he was in no shape to fight anyone fair. Kimimaro stood in the middle of the melee, his skeleton contorting out of his skin, surrounded by savage warriors fighting with tooth, claw, flesh, bone, and sinew to bring him down. He couldn't last and he couldn't win, but he was determined to keep fighting. That was his purpose, the purpose Amaru had given him. But Amaru had no right to use him like that, and he knew it.

Amaru sighed in resignation. "You're going to regret this," he told himself. _Yep._ He raced out of the shadows, dodging people as best he could. All it took was for someone to grab an ankle and he'd be dead. He dove through an opening in the maelstrom and grabbed the bull by the horns, or rather the flower by the thorns, and ran toward heaven. Halfway there he turned around, faced the mass of bodies staring up at him and…

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

A burst of light and heat exploded out of his mouth, scorching man and earth alike. But the earth could handle it better than most. At least better than Amaru could. When the ground came up to him he hit it hard; he didn't bother trying to land, just collapsed in a heap. He closed his eyes but he couldn't block the smell. Burning flesh, it smelled like bacon. And he didn't want to think about people that way. Not now.

"Hey Ki…Kimimaro," he wheezed. "Get me out of here."

"Hai." He supported him with his shoulder and kept walking, with no sign of pain or pleasure about his clansmen he killed. Amaru wondered if he would respond any differently to his death, but he didn't want to think about that either. After all, his clan used him only as a weapon. Was he doing anything different?

"This…is far enough." Kimimaro sat him down gently by a tree. Surprisingly gently for such an easy killer. "I need you…to do something…for me." His green eyes flashed earnestly, intently, anxious to obey. Amaru felt awful for him. Someone that capable and willing to be used would certainly end up as a weapon. But maybe…He took a scroll out of his vest. His captors took his weapons but left everything else. "Keep going north until you find a road, turn left and follow the signs for two days until you reach Konoha. I want you to give _this_ to the Hokage." He thought that was everything. Except…ANBU. "And if a bunch of people with funny masks cause you trouble, tell them Amaru sent you."

"Who's he?"

Amaru blinked. _Oh, right. I never told you my name._ "A friend of mine that keeps on trying to kill me." His hand went to a hole in his stomach, trying to stem the blood flow from when he managed to impale himself on a little kid. He didn't have much time left. "Can you do this?"

"Hai!" He left without looking back.

Amaru looked to the stars and wished for all the world he could see the moon. But there was nothing. It must have been on the other side of the tree.

A kid like Kimimaro was bound to become a weapon. But maybe…

Maybe…

In Konoha…

He'd find something more.

WWW

Another place, another night, Kimimaro found his way into the village. At least he hoped so. That was what that man had wanted him to do, that was his purpose. He followed the road and the signs, and now he was at the village. There even were the people with funny masks just like he said.

"What purpose do you have in Konoha?" They moved fast and quiet, like shadows, like that man did. Kimimaro tightened his grip on the scroll and reached for his knife.

"I need to give this scroll to the Hokage."

"What is it?"

"Amaru sent me." He moved into stance.

The masked men looked at each other and one nodded. "I'll take it."

He took a step back and gripped his knife. "Amaru sent me!" he repeated, with a tinge of panic in his voice.

Again, they looked at each other. "The Hokage is this way. Follow me."

WWW

The ANBU escorted him to the Hokage's office. Though he was only a child, they weren't about to take any chances and leave him with the village head, just in case. The Hokage's brow furrowed more and more as he read the scroll. Bad news. "Raijin, set Team 12 on Amaru's trail, and send in Ikaru," he ordered, and then he turned to the business at hand.

The boy was clearly a Kaguya, one of the many warring clans in the Country of Water. He looked awful, as though he had not eaten or slept much in days. He was young, too. He probably would not be able to find his way back home on his own, and even if he did he would just end up a sadistic killer like the rest of them. But if he wanted to go home, that was his choice. "You have my gratitude for delivering this scroll to me on Amaru's behalf. What do you wish to do now, now that you've completed your task?"

Kimimaro looked back at him, leaf green eyes in the village Hidden in the Leaves, with the look of a lost child looking for something to follow. "What do you want me to do?"

WWW

_a/n I've never done this before, this is my first fanfic ever, but I noticed that everyone writes a note at the end and the last thing anyone looks for in a fanfic is originality, so…yeah. Um, you know, I really wasn't planning on making it so dang cheerful, I'll try to fix it in a chapter or two with some fluff(?) Oh, and if you're one of those obsessive freaks that looks up all those obscure facts in fansubs and wikipedia, well, it would be hypocritical of me to tell you to get a life, but pay no attention at all to the ages. Things will make more sense that way. For those history buffs out there, the character is original, but the name Amaru I stole from a Peruvian revolutionary war hero that ended up brutally murdered before getting a statue made after him. The poem at the top, I thought it really fit Kimimaro even before I found out it was written by a tuberculosis patient. And also, as of 2/22/10, I have edited this chapter to get rid of (most of) the typos._


	2. Chance

Dance of the Hidden Leaves

Chapter Two

Chance

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud

Under the bludgeoning of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

-_Invictus_ by Henley

There was no experience like this. What it was, he could not place. He breathed in the morning mist, there was only mist in the morning in this land. The air was clean, but not cold, overpowering, but not oppressive. For the first time in years, his world was more than stone walls, iron bars, and the field of battle. It extended from the Hokage's tower to the apartment complex the Hokage put him in and from there in all directions for miles on end.

It was as overwhelming as the rising sun.

Kimimaro sat on the roof of his apartment as he turned his eyes toward the flaming sky. Years in darkness did not leave quickly. The first morning on the road to Konoha, that was devastating. Even now, after a few weeks in the daylight, it was still powerful. But he could handle it. He wouldn't be much use to anyone if he was forced to be nocturnal. And besides, he had a killer view. There were other things to deal with as well; this place was full of new people, ideas, mysteries.

He saw one of the mysteries flying through the air towards his neighbor's window. A hurled brick. He jumped off the roof and caught it. There was a piece of paper taped to it. "Get out monster." Hate mail. How poetic. Kimimaro modified the skeletal structure in his legs and hit the ground lightly. The window the brick was aimed for belonged to a boy he knew from the academy the Hokage had him attend. He seemed to be an object of aggression for unknown reasons. That was the mystery.

He followed the brick thrower until he led Kimimaro into a secluded area. He did not see the older man smirk, but he saw the kunai he threw at him. Ducking, he stretched forth his fingers and shouted, "Hessendan!" The man narrowly jumped out of the way of his finger bullets. Distracted, Kimimaro managed to grab onto his wrists and locked his bones in place. He wouldn't be breaking out without a very good saw. A spike shot out of each knee, rooting Kimimaro in place and threatening the man's throat.

His eyes widened and his breathing became less controlled. His reaction was much like the other Leaf nin's that saw his kekkei genkai, but with more fear than astonishment. "What do you want?"

"I need your help," Kimimaro replied. He could tell the man was frightened, but he didn't want to take advantage of that if he could help it. "I noticed you throw a brick at someone's window earlier today. I would like to know why."

"Because," he said, calming down visibly, "I hate him."

"I noticed similar behaviors in this area. Can you explain that?"

"What, why I hate that brat?" Kimimaro nodded. The man he had pinned weighed his choices quickly and hoped that his vise like grip and spikes were just to keep him from running. "Gomen. I can't tell you. I wish I could, heck, I wish that thing was dead, but I'd rather not break the sort of law that ends with decapitation. And I definitely don't want to break this one. It's really something that everyone ought to know, but you'll just have to find out on your own or find someone that will talk."

Kimimaro let go of him and pulled the spikes back into his knees. They made walking tricky. "Does he know?"

"Who, the de—the Uzimaki kid? Doubt it. Sometimes I don't think anyone knows what they really are." He hesitated, but when Kimimaro didn't ask him anything else, he left faster than necessary.

* * *

Who knows what they are? Kimimaro asked that question himself long before he came to Konoha. Back then, he spent his time in darkness searching for a light. When his clan brought him out, he thought he found something, even if he was just killing people he didn't know, because he felt he was doing something useful for someone, but afterward, all he had was the cold stone walls around him and darkness throughout.

He didn't know what he was or why he had such frightening control over his Shikotsumyaku, but he was going to find out. All other freedoms could be taken away, but to find one's purpose, that was the one freedom God gave him. And he wasn't going to give up on that.

He would help that other guy, Naruto, find out what he was. Then he could watch and follow, and maybe find something about himself, too. He hoped.

* * *

"Uzimaki Naruto. I need to talk to you"

Naruto looked up. He was on his way to the academy. He was different from the other children there because he was one of the few that liked being at school better than being at home. "Yeah, what? You- you're that new guy, Kimi- Kimiwatsits or something. Kimimaro!"

"Yes. I saw someone this morning try to throw a brick through your window."

"Huh. Yeah, that happens every now and then. It's no big deal," he said evasively.

"I asked him why, he said it had something to do with what you are."

"Yeah, and I asked Iruka-sensei about it, and he said that some people are just stupid." Kimimaro noted his agitation.

"Yes, I suppose that makes sense. Iruka-sensei wouldn't tell you anything. I think there's a law forbidding that."

That got his attention. "What?"

"That's what he told me. He might have lied, but he seemed sincere."

"What!?" Naruto sunk to the ground and gripped his head. He uttered a sort of moan. Usually he ignored the piercing glares and would smile and pretend to be happy just to spite them and daydream about the future. But if there was there was an official, actual reason, some secret about him that even the Hokage recognized…

"Do you want to find out what it is?" asked Kimimaro after a moment. "The man hinted that I might be able to do so, but I don't know enough about your customs to proceed."

Naruto got up and looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you care?"

"I'm a foreigner. My opinion doesn't matter." Which made sense to him. Among the Kaguya, foreigners were hunted for sport and were only kept alive to be hunted again.

"Tell me. Tell me, or I'll find out without you."

Kimimaro considered this. There were a number of reasons that he didn't want to explain, but Naruto really could find out without him, and what he said, that sounded like a trade. "I want you to find out because I'm like you. I don't know what I am, but I can help you to know. I figure that if I help you find out, I might be able to understand…better. Does that make sense?"

Naruto nodded soberly. He could play the perfect idiot when he wanted to, but not now. "Yeah, I, I think so." He took a deep breath. "So. You said there was a law so that no one could tell anyone, right? The only one who can make laws is the Hokage, and he would keep a record somewhere in his tower."

"For what?"

"So that if someone breaks it, he can make sure he got the wording right. Or for history. But anyway, so we break in, search the records, and find out what no one can tell anyone."

"How will we know where to find it? If we go through the entire tower, we'll have to kill a lot of guards to get anywhere."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah. Though, even if you're joking, people get really upset if they hear you talking like that."

Kimimaro didn't understand that, so he moved on. "Suppose we could get a third person to go with us? Someone who knows which room it's in?"

"Really think there's anyone willing to break into a public building besides delinquents like us who don't know where to go? Yeah, sure. And we'll just meet up by the tower at, say, five?"

"Agreed. Is there anyone in particular you'd like to bring?"

"Yeah. Anyone but Sasuke."

* * *

Kimimaro didn't expect it to be that difficult to get Naruto to cooperate. It was easier with the first man he persuaded that day. But he used force that time, and he felt that sort of behavior was discouraged here. Free will was a wonderful thing, but it could get in the way every now and then. And he would have to overcome it again in another person before that day was through, but this one, he could choose. He just would have to find someone not so willful to persuade.

* * *

When Naruto got to the Hokage's tower, Kimimaro was already there. "Hey, Kimimaro! What time is it?"

Kimimaro pulled up a baggy sleeve and showed him a bare wrist. "No watch."

"Yeah, same here."

"Why don't you just ask someone?"

"Allow me to demonstrate." He approached a random stranger. "Excuse me sir," he said with excessive politeness. "Would you be so kind as to tell me what time it is?" He just kept on walking. In Naruto's book, it was better to be laughed at than glared at, and being ignored was worst of all. "Hey, don't just walk away from me, Nii-chan! I asked you a question!"

"It's three a.m.," he said over his shoulder. "Go away."

"Kind of sunny for three a.m.," Naruto muttered to no one in particular. "See, Kimimaro? I'm cursed."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Hopefully, by the end of the day, we'll find out."

Naruto cringed. He'd been deliberately pushing out that objective all day, changing the subject whenever it popped into his head. "So did you find anyone to go with us?"

"Yes. Hyuuga Hinata."

"Hinata, Hinata." Naruto knew that name was familiar. "Isn't she that redhead that—"

"Dark hair, white eyes, sits in the back, says nothing."

"Ah." Then it clicked. "Oh yeah! I know her. Wait a second." She wasn't the type to break the rules. "Why'd she want to come?" When Kimimaro first started going to the academy, several girls were more than willing to show him around, but Hinata wasn't one of them. Naruto guessed that he just didn't know her very well.

"I don't know. By the way, out of all the people you know, why did you only specify Sasuke not to be here?"

"Sasuke? Because he's a creep and a jerk and a…he's a…hey, what was that name that that one guy called Kiba's dog the other day?"

"Mutt?"

"No."

"Mongrel?"

"No."

"Poodle?"

"Yes! That's it, poodle. Sasuke is such a poodle." Naruto didn't know what a poodle was exactly, but if it was insulting to a dog, then that was good enough for him.

"Hmm," said Kimimaro after a while. "Hinata's here."

"Hinata! I've never been so happy to see you!"

She stopped dead in her tracks. She looked at both of them, and had a sudden desire not to be there. She wasn't sure what she was getting into. Instead, she lifted up her hand slightly in a wave and mumbled an inaudible, "H-hello."

"Well," said Naruto, opening the door and bowing invitingly with an unnecessary flourish. "Lead the way."

* * *

Out of the three of them, only Kimimaro was comfortable. He saw Hinata, focused intently on the floor, walls, anything that couldn't look back. She was wearing black pants and an offwhite jacket with her clan's symbol, according to Hyuuga tradition, which she would probably be buried in. She was worried they might get caught. Naruto was wearing shorts and a black shirt with a Konoha swirl on it. Though he tried not to show it, he was worried about what they might find. Kimimaro used to think that clothes were just signs of wealth, displaying the industry that lesser villages could not afford. Later, he figured out the truth.

It was psychological warfare.

Every man, woman, and child of the Leaf had several identical outfits. In battle, clothes get cut and torn, but the next day, a fresh set is worn, giving the eerie impression that the material regenerates over night. Kimimaro himself purchased a closet full of grey pants and blue shirts. The shirts could fit someone much bigger than him, but they didn't feel as restricting and concealed him when he sprouted accidentally.

"Th-this is the room," whispered Hinata, awakening Kimimaro from his thoughts.

"Crud, it's locked!" Naruto tried to force it open and slammed himself against the door, but it wouldn't budge. Kimimaro looked at the door and could not see any tags, so his Shikotsumyaku would be able to get through, which he activated, sprouting a short spear out of his palm, barely visible below his sleeve. But his bloodline had a peculiar effect on the people of Konoha, and this wasn't a good time to see how Naruto and Hinata would react to it. It shouldn't be too hard to distract them, for a moment.

"Ano, we could go through the window from the outside," suggested Hinata.

"Hold it! I got an idea!" said Naruto exuberantly, snapping his fingers. "The door's locked, so we just need a door opening jutsu. And I just happen to have a door opening jutsu." Naruto stepped forward and began the jutsu. Actually, he had never done it before and had only seen it once on tv, but with so much counting on him, he wasn't going to mess up. He ran through a complex set of handseals—tiger, dog, goat—and a few he'd just made up—fish, ostrich, penguin­­—and shouted, "Open Sesame no Jutsu!"

Nothing happened.

Then, with Kimimaro and Hinata looking amazed and Naruto looking criminally smug, the door opened. And a chunin guard stepped out on an errand for the Hokage. All four of them stopped dead.

"Ano…"

"What the devil are you doing here?" demanded the guard.

"Bento-san!" said Naruto, who was on a first name basis with most of the guards here. "You've got to help us! The Hokage is in danger!"

He sighed in expiration. "Naruto, you tried that last time, and if it didn't work then, what makes you think it would work now?"

"We are on a journey of self discovery and are trying to uncover a conspiracy of hatred," said Kimimaro, stepping in. "Please do not interfere."

"It was bad enough when it was just you wrecking havoc," Bento said. "But now you had to go and corrupt the new guy and," he glanced at Hinata. "Oh, for the love of—look, just get out of here. All of you, scram."

"But don't you want to see my new jutsu?" begged Naruto.

"No, I want you to—"

"Sexy no Jutsu!" Naruto was suddenly replaced by a huge, bloated, grotesque, twisted, hideously proportioned, deformed…thing.

"AAAAAHHHHH! MY EYES! You are _sick_, you know that?! I swear, I'm going to have nightmares about this for—"

"No, wait! That's not how it's supposed to work! Sexy no Jutsu! There, that's what's supposed to happen." He released the jutsu and noticed the guard twitching unconscious on the floor. "At least, I think that's what's supposed to happen." It was his first time using that jutsu, too. He turned to Kimimaro. "So, what do you think?"

"I'm not opening my eyes until you change back to normal."

"I did."

"You did?" Kimimaro looked around. "Then the door is unguarded, and I suggest we move on." Naruto looked at the empty doorway, and for a moment, his face fell. He realized, more clearly than ever, that this wasn't some happy little tea party, he was here to find out something that he would not be able to forget, something that he might not want to know. "Unless," Kimimaro added cautiously, "you want to back down."

_I never back down!_ "Oh, sorry, I kind of dazed out for a moment. Right! Let's go!" After all, he didn't want anyone to think he was a coward, and he had a reputation to protect. Even if all it was was a blithe buffoon. Smile a lot and don't put too much thought into it, and everything will work out fine.

Naruto looked at the wall where the records were kept. They were organized simply, by year horizontally and by month vertically. He reached for the month and year he was born. "Okay, so I'll start here in October, you do the next year, and you the year after that." It made him feel good when he saw them obey him. That didn't happen very often. He scanned the lines of the scroll. The name Kyuubi kept coming up. Not only did that demon attack Konoha on the year and month he was born, but died on the exact same day. Naruto had incredible luck like that. He stopped for a moment when he realized that this scroll might have been written by the Yondaime himself, if not someone directly appointed by him.

It was the Yondaime who defeated the nine tailed fox, protecting the village when no one else could. The fox was one of the most powerful creatures imaginable, but the Yondaime managed to halt its rampage, sacrificing his own life for the people he loved, but as long as he was remembered by those who loved him, he could never truly die. It was Naruto's favorite story of all time, the stuff of legends.

"Hey, I think I found something," Naruto said suddenly.

"What's it say?"

"Blah, blah, blah, revealed to Uzimaki Naruto—that's me—nor anyone else born after such and such a date, nor so on and so forth, a lot of official sounding mumbo jumbo—" _Kyuubi_. Naruto's eyes hit that word and froze. "Wait…" _…that the Kyuubi no Kitsune is sealed inside of said Uzimaki Naruto…_ "No…" _…by the hand of the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure, Village Hidden in the Leaves._ Naruto let the scroll fall to his feet and noticed that the Third had just walked in on them.

The old man was about to reprimand them for breaking in when he noticed the scroll. He opened his mouth to say something wise and comforting, not necessarily true, but exactly what Naruto needed to hear.

Naruto didn't want to hear it and jumped head first out the window.

* * *

The funny thing about pain is that it doesn't hurt immediately. Naruto didn't feel a thing when the glass cut him. But now the shards were starting to sting. And yet, that was the most satisfying thing that happened all day. _Masochist._ He wondered why the Sandaime wasn't coming after him. Though, Naruto was pretty amazing, and could never be caught unless he wanted to. Or maybe the old man was busy chatting with Kimimaro and Hinata, explaining to be careful around him because he might go crazy any second, threaten the security of the village, and try to initiate the destruction of all mankind.

That, at least, explained the dirty looks he got every now and then. He looked up at the last face of the Hokage Monument. He had a killer view from the rooftop he was sitting on. _And it's all your fault._ "Greatest hero of the village, ha!" But the Yondaime didn't defeat the Kyuubi, he gave it to someone else to handle. "I thought you were a hero." _You were my…_ "But someday, I'm going to be Hokage! I'll be greater than you ever were! And then…" _As long as he was remembered…_

"Hey, kid! Get off my roof!" yelled an old man with grey hair.

Naruto's idiotic grin plastered itself onto his face on reflex. _What, scared I'll eat your children?_ "Gomen. I was going to clean up the mess I left first, but zya nei!"

"What? What mess? Get back here, you brat!"

Naruto laughed and ignored him entirely. He glanced again at the Hokage Monument. _I'll be the greatest Hokage ever. And then they'll forget all about you._

* * *

A/N Hey, I got reviews! Arigoto gozaimasu! Is this chapter longer than the last one? Oh well. By the way, if you were wondering, I'm making Kimimaro the same age as the rest of the rookies, because it's just easier that way. And in this chapter, they're all about ten or so, a couple years before the beginning of the cannon. Also, when he activates his bloodline, I'm calling that sprouting, for future reference, because it goes with his flower motif thing. Sorry if it seems like I put in more Naruto than Kimimaro. I guess I really suck at this writing thing; the story just seems to invent itself, and I guess I just got a sick kick out of making him despise his hero. I hope the characters fit. To be honest, I've always had a boyish fantasy to be able to rip out my skeletal structure and do amazing things with it, ever since I saw it on tv, and I know I'm not the only one.

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	3. The Poor Player

Dance of the Hidden Leaves

Chapter Three

a/n I do not own Naruto, or any thing else. Seriously, I'm a hobo living in a box writing stories at the local library.

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,  
that struts and frets his hour upon the stage,  
and then is heard no more;  
it is a tale told by an idiot,  
full of sound and fury,  
signifying nothing.

-Shakespeare

_You gullible, cowardly, fool!_ Naruto had no idea how he ended up in his position. _Yes I do! I was desperate!_ After yet another display of brilliance during the last academy exam _ever_—for those who passed—Mizuri-sensei duped him into some "extra-credit." Any intelligent human being would have been able to see through the shallow deception, or at least have run the "Go steal the Forbidden Scroll" idea by someone else, but Naruto didn't.

He would accept any lie to make him feel better. That was who he was.

Naruto huddled behind a bush to think. If he had thought a bit more beforehand, he never would have ended up in the middle of the woods at night with at least one chunin trying to kill him. As he sat there, cursing his luck, he heard someone hit the ground hard. _Iruka-sensei._ "Oh man, he does not look good," Naruto whispered. Iruka was bleeding heavily from a dozen open wounds and had a hole in his back that Naruto could stuff his hand in. All that, just to keep Naruto from getting himself killed.

"Iruka, my old friend," Mizuri sneered. "You are such a sucker. You, of all people, should want me to have the scroll over that—that _thing._ You _know _what that demon could do with it.

Iruka managed to stand himself up against a tree. If he was going to die, he was going to die on his feet. "I know what you would do with it," he said, tasting his own blood. "You would use it for your benefit, your own desires, and you might threaten the entire village just to satisfy your own selfish dreams!" He coughed up blood. "But Naruto, Naruto is nothing." Naruto felt his heart sink as he turned to leave. _You won't think that when I become Ho_—"HE IS NOTHING LIKE YOU! He knows the pain of being alone, and he handles it a lot better than I did, and he will live do great things."

Mizuri looked at him with a mix of pity and disgust. "Remember what I said about how I'd kill you last? Well I changed my mind. You're starting to make me feel sick." He took out a kunai and started to the man who could barely stand.

That was when he felt Naruto's foot slam into him. Would that be considered a sucker punch? Oh well. That's what ninjas do.

"If you lay one hand on my sensei," he growled, "I'll kill you!" It hadn't occurred to him that he was an academy student facing a chunin. If he thought about it, he might have done something different. But he didn't. That was who he was, too. When Iruka-sensei said that he was nothing, he felt awful. But after what he said next, Naruto felt like he could fly.

Mizuri laughed at him. People tended to laugh at him when he wasn't trying to be funny. "Show me what you got, Nine Tailed Fox!"

Naruto had been hated and ignored for as long as he could remember. He wondered vaguely what it would be like to be feared. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Yeah, it was sweet.

* * *

He wasn't homesick. He left his home in the land of misty lakes years ago and came to another home among the trees. Kimimaro was not sick for the former nor sick of the latter. 

But he wanted to go back all the same, if only for a moment. Amaru had a purpose for him, one greater than just the delivery of a scroll. But the scroll was delivered, and he received no further direction. Confusion, he supposed, was the price of freedom. Of course, he was told where to live, where to buy things, where he could get something to eat, but nothing…nothing _meaningful_. That was why he wanted to go back, to visit Amaru. "He was buried where he lay," said the woman who helped track down his corpse.

He would have left sooner, if he was allowed. "Wait until you're at least a genin," advised one of the academy instructors. "It's too dangerous to go one your own." Kimimaro didn't find anything dangerous after he left his clan, but who knows? Things might have changed since he left.

But he was a genin now. Even without actively using the Shikotsumyaku that so many found frightening, he was the top of his class in taijutsu, and he was placed on a team with two of his classmates and a jounin. Kimimaro didn't meet the jounin yet, that would happen after lunch, but he knew the other two. Oddly enough, it was Uzimaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata, the same people who broke into the Hokage's tower with him years ago.

He had no idea at the time, exactly how perilous an undertaking he had charged into. Naruto and Hinata were both born and raised in this land, and Hinata had roots in the most powerful clan of the village. In the worst case scenario, they would be chastised severely and forced to do menial labor. Kimimaro had lived in Konoha for all of two weeks and was still under suspicion as an enemy spy. All it would have taken was reasonable proof of espionage, and then there would have been banishment, beheading, or an unpleasant interrogation.

Kimimaro had more in common with his clan than he liked to think. The Kaguya never put much thought into their ventures, either.

Though, it turned out unexpectedly well. After Naruto jumped out the window, the Hokage accepted their explanation before he heard it. Kimimaro remembered the old man pick up the unrolled scroll and gaze out through the broken glass. Tracing his finger along the shattered edge, in a low, raspy voice, he whispered around his pipe, "Do not speak of this to anyone." And with that, they were free to go.

But in the end, nothing was gained. Though if he was going to be on the same team as he was then, then it must be to the same purpose.

* * *

He was a ninja now. Naruto had the hitaiate worn proudly on his forehead and everything, and today was the last day he would have to go to the academy _ever!_ He'd be glad to move on, but he had some unfinished business to take care of. 

Or, more precisely, _they_ had some unfinished business to take care of.

She had a thing for that Sasuke creep. That was painfully obvious, but Naruto could forgive her for her poor judgment. And to be stuck on the same team as him, Naruto wouldn't wish that on anybody. He felt sorry for Shikamaru, too; if Sasuke was on _his_ team, he might have to kill someone.

The target was in sight, standing unaware by the window, eating his sandwich as though it was almost beneath his dignity. Naruto would never have tried something like this before he mastered the Kage Bunshin, at least, not with results he'd care to remember. The Narutos ambushed him, and Konoha's number one self-absorbed, arrogant pinhead barely saw them coming.

* * *

Not a lot of girls would be happy to be on a team with Naruto. They saw him as idiotic, barely competent, crude, repetitive, loud, and mostly just annoying, and they couldn't see past that. 

But nothing was hidden from the Byukagan.

Anyone could see how often he failed, but only Hinata could see how hard he tried. And now she was on his team. She was going to make a fool of herself. Almost everyone with powerful eyes falls under the delusion that they can see the future, but all the same, she knew she was going to make a fool of himself.

Hinata noticed Sasuke passing by. That in itself wasn't significant, but he had an uncharacteristic spring to his step and a very uncharacteristic grin. Very uncharacteristic, but _very_ familiar.

"N-Naruto-kun?" she ventured.

He jerked around wildly. "What? How'd you—I mean, uh, crud. What the heck is that?!" he cried urgently pointing behind her.

Even without her Byukagan fully activated, she had wide enough peripheral vision to see it. "That is a wall of the academy building."

"Oh. Well, how about that?"

"That is a tree."

"Wow," he said. "That's, that's"—his mind wandered for the right word—"really freaky. But I got to go now. See you later!"

_Oh, good job,_ she said to herself. _You've been on his team for all of fifteen minutes and already he thinks you're "freaky."_ She knew that she should leave, maybe see how Kimimaro was doing, before she made things worse. But curiosity got the better of her.

* * *

Kimimaro rose and fell with the branch he stood on has he surveyed his work. It was one of the dances of his clan, Dance of the Camellia, Tsubaki no mai. The object was to pierce the individual leaves of a tree without cutting them off. It required balance, precision, and most of all, rhythm. He was fast enough and had the advantages that his kekkei genkai awarded him; in short, he had the body for it. But not the grace. The torn green shreds falling to the ground was proof of that. 

This dance always made him think of home. It was his brother long ago who tried to teach it to him. He was an anomaly, like the rest of his immediate family, who managed to live his entire life without killing anyone. Onii-san wasn't the best fighter, but he could play anything that could carry a tune, even if it was one that only he could hear. And such things like Tsubaki no mai came naturally to him.

But he wasn't the reason Kimimaro wanted to go back. Onii-san left long before he did.

* * *

Naruto saw her, sitting alone on a bench. It was criminal, for such a pretty girl to be sitting alone. He'd fix that. "What a cute forehead you have," he thought to himself. "It makes me what to kiss it." Her head snapped up and her jaw dropped at him. _Oh crap! Did I say that out loud?_ "Which is the sort of thing that Naruto would have said," he added. _Good job,_ he thought sarcastically. _Hardly inconspicuous at all._ But, oddly enough, she bought it, and even blushed when he sat down next to her, which had _never_ happened before. "Speaking of which, what do you think of him, anyway?" 

"Oh him?" she giggled nervously. "He is so"—Naruto tried not to look too intrigued—"_annoying_. He hits on me incessantly and no matter how many times I tell him to beat it, he just _won't take a hint!_ And he's always at it with that obnoxious laugh of his…"

She continued to exaggerate and make unlikely excuses for his unpleasant behavior, and Naruto was starting to feel sick. Whoever said that you should just be yourself probably also said that ignorance is bliss. As himself, she would never even look his way, unless he was sitting next to someone disgustingly special. But as Sasuke, she would probably even let him kiss her—well, that was an idea. Naruto toyed with that idea, then decided that she'd hate him if she found out. _But,_ he thought, _she already hates me._ And he moved in.

_No way!_ she thought after she realized what was happening. _Once again, love prevails!_

Hinata was watching the whole thing from a distance. _No, don't do it, Naruto-kun!_ she thought. _This isn't right!_

_Ha ha, sucker!_ thought Naruto. But then, suddenly, something dark and evil stirred within him. He got up quickly, doubled over in pain, and ran.

_Oh, Sasuke-kun, he's so shy_

_Oh, Naruto-kun, he's so noble._

_Oh crap! Where the heck's the bathroom!_

* * *

Shikamaru was pretty pleased with himself. The teams were designed to be balanced, the best shinobi with the worse, so he'd been deliberately performing terribly, steadily floating over the very edge of failure. And now he was placed with a genius workaholic and some girl. He finished washing his hands and was about to leave when his genius, workaholic teammate charged into the bathroom and nearly plowed him over. 

"Oh man! Why now?!" came a voice from the stall. "Out of all the possible—How could I get diarrhea at a time like this!?"

Shikamaru was thunderstruck, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. He recognized the voice. It was Naruto's, not Sasuke's. All the same, he left quickly.

* * *

He could have taken him by surprise. It was the fundamental shinobi tactic, and if he used it on Naruto, they would be even, one to one. But Sasuke didn't want to just defeat him.

He wanted to humiliate him.

And besides, he didn't need surprise to win. Sasuke wandered about aimlessly for a time until by chance he ran into Naruto just as he was coming out of the bathroom. "Oi."

He turned toward him and stepped back. "What the—how'd you—"

"Ropes and knots are easy to get out of," interrupted Sasuke, walking slowly toward him. "Only a complete moron wouldn't know how, baka." Naruto's face screwed up in anger. _Hit a nerve…_

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" One became twelve, and twelve glared back at Sauske.

Sasuke glared back at them.

A soft breeze rustled their hair majestically, despite the fact that they were indoors.

But then, without warning, Naruto felt something dark and evil stir within him. "Oh no, not again." He turned to the bathroom, and all twelve fought and clawed their way through each other to get in. Sasuke turned around in disgust and left.

Naruto could humiliate himself just fine without him.

* * *

It was kind of creepy, running into him in the hall. Walking slowly, as if slowing down time to match his own pulse, with neither sight nor sound, as though he was something…not alive. All the same, Shikamaru knew him well enough and was fairly used to it. 

"Hey, Kimimaro."

He opened his eyes. They didn't open and seek him out. They were already staring at him. "Yes?"

"Naruto's on your team, isn't he?"

"Hai."

"I saw him a while back masquerading as Sasuke. I was wondering if you knew why."

Kimimaro closed his eyes again in thought. "Identity. He was not satisfied with the limits and reputation of his own identity, so he decided to be someone else."

Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets. "That doesn't make sense to me," he muttered.

"I could be wrong. All we can do is test it out. You be me," he decided, forming a hand seal. "And I'll be you." He smiled. "At the very least, this will be interesting.

* * *

Lunch lasted a whole lot longer than necessary. No one could eat so much or so slowly to spend the entire time eating. Sasuke knew that it was supposed to be a fun time, time to talk to friends and, today, teammates. It was an utter waste of time. All the same, now was a good a time as any to smooth things out with his team. He saw the other genin he was stuck with, Shikamaru, who looked like he was sleep walking. Sasuke waited until they had just walked past each other before saying anything. 

"Shikamaru." He didn't reply, but he heard him stop. "I don't know how much of your performance was real, faked, or just laziness," Sasuke continued, "but if anything happens on a mission or something, don't get in my way."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," was what he was expected to say, after all, he was the biggest slacker in the class and wouldn't want to get into something troublesome anyway, but he didn't. "If anything happens," he growled, turning to face his teammate, "I will act as ordered by my immediate superior. _You_, Sasuke, are _not_ my superior."

Sasuke couldn't help but laugh to himself. Someone barely becomes a genin and it goes straight to their head. "No, Shikamaru, I am."

Shikamaru scoffed in reply. "Someone who lives each day only for himself, for his _own_ gain, his _own_ ambition, regardless of anything or anyone who gets in his way? You're not a shinobi. You're trash."

Sasuke didn't mean to start a fight. He didn't lose his temper or anything, he just wanted to clarify their positions. But Shikamaru moved so smoothly that it looked like he was standing still, like Sasuke just missed. And Sasuke couldn't leave it like that. But for some reason, Shikamaru was faster that day than he had ever been, and, through some complicated footwork, ended up behind him.

"And trash is just trash," he whispered coldly in his ear, "until someone cleans it up."

Sasuke underestimated him. He realized that, but, all the same, he wasn't going to be insulted. Sasuke spun around and gave him a roundhouse kick, which Shikamaru jumped over gracefully and planted a foot squarely in his chest, knocking Sasuke out the window. Satisfied with his experience, Shikamaru released the jutsu and became Kimimaro again.

* * *

There was a change of relationships and expectations, but those were the only obvious changes Kimimaro could see. It wasn't long before he saw Shikamaru, as Shikamaru, lying down on a bench, gazing at the clouds. "Done already?" 

Shikamaru turned his head. "Hm? Oh, yeah. I don't think I can handle being you." Kimimaro looked at him quizzically. "You're a chick magnet," he explained. "If I was a chick magnet, I'd probably have to kill myself. It's too much trouble."

"Ah."

"I think the identity thing is mostly to do stuff and get in trouble for it."

"I can understand that."

Shikamaru jerked up suddenly. "Wait a second. While you were me, you didn't…"

"I did nothing that would dishonor you," Kimimaro promised.

Shikamaru relaxed again and glanced at his watch. "Well, it's about time to go meet our new sensei."

"Arigato."

* * *

When Kimimaro got to the room, Hinata was already there, sitting at one of the many unused desks, staring off into space. Other than that, the classroom was completely empty until Naruto burst in. 

"Is this it? Is this the right room?"

"Hai. This is the room designated for the gathering of team eight."

Naruto probably rambled on inanely, but Kimimaro didn't notice anything until the door opened again. There stood a man, about the same age as the academy instructors, with white hair, a jounin vest, and glasses. Though, what Kimimaro noticed most was his voice. He didn't talk to them in a patronizing or condescending way like the teachers at the academy, who found their job to be the equivalent of babysitting. He seemed to look on them as equals, fellow shinobi. The last person Kimimaro saw treat him like that was…Amaru.

He was Yakushi Kabuto, their new sensei.

* * *

a/n Yosh! Third chapter! I never thought I'd get through it. There was a mix of AP tests and writing block. But anyway, before you say anything mean and nasty, I put a lot of thought into putting Kabuto there. Most of the other people I could put there were adequate at best, so I decided, forget creativity, I'll just go by the canon, because canons make everything more fun. Because, in the anime, when Kimimaro referred to him as "Kabuto-sensei," so if he was worthy of that position by the Sound's standards, there's no reason why he wouldn't get there in the Leaf. And though Kabuto was just a genin, it said that he was about Kakashi's level, so if he didn't have Orochimaru making him go undercover… Anyway, about Kimimaro's brother, he's invented, as well as the rest of his family, but Kimimaro wasn't born in his cell, and I'll try to go into more depth about he past in future chapters. 


	4. Such are Dangerous

Dance of the Hidden Leaves

Chapter Four

a/n I do not own Naruto. If I did, it might go something like this and be less popular for the masses.

Let me have men about me that are fat;  
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights:  
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;  
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

-_Julius Caesar_ by Shakespeare

The sense of smell is more closely connected to memory than any other sense. That wasn't just a myth, Kabuto proved it with a number of subjects, and he had personal experience. It wasn't the color of the walls or the doors, but the clean, sterile smell that reminded him of past visits to the hospital.

Being made leader of a four man cell excused him from most of his medical duties, but he still had business in the building. It wasn't long before he found who he was looking for. It seemed like the old man never left his office.

"Hello, senpai."

Kabuto's friend looked up suddenly. "Kabuto?" he said getting up, cracking a few vertebrae in the process. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to drop by and tell you that I've been put in charged of a trio of genin. What the higher ups were thinking I cannot imagine."

He sat down again, rather heavily. "They were thinking that you'll do a fine job. And you will. So who's on your team?"

"First there's Hyuuga Hinata."

"You got a Hyuuga? Wow. They're supposed to be the best, aren't they? Someone must really like you."

Kabuto shrugged. "Yeah, well, we'll see. And I've got Kaguya Kimimaro."

"Kaguya…Kimimaro?" he repeated. The name wasn't familiar. "Is he from around here?"

"No. He was found by an ANBU a couple years ago and ended up in Konoha."

"Like you."

Kabuto continued, barely ruffled. "And then there's Uzimaki Naruto."

Kabuto wouldn't say that he enjoyed provoking his old friend, but he would say he knew how. "What? Isn't he the…"

"Yep."

"But…but…what sort of idiot would make that a shinobi? What were they thinking?"

"They were thinking that he'll do a fine job. Though I'll admit they may be poor judges in that field. Oh, by the way, I understand you have the medical records for all the academy students."

"Yes…"

"And you know that I take my background research seriously."

"Oh."

"So can I look at them?"

"Kabuto," he sighed. "Patient medical records are confidential. Do you know what that word means, confidential?"

"Of course. I won't tell anyone." His senpai glared at him. "Look, I just want to know what sort of shinobi I'm dealing with so they don't end up _here_."

He yielded. "Fine, fine. They're in the cabinet, far left."

"Arigato, senpai." Kabuto took out his deck of cards and rummaged through the files. Alphabetically, Hinata's came first. Her injuries were sparse and mild, she didn't get into things she couldn't handle. Kabuto took her cousin Hyuuga Neji's file right next to it for something to compare it to.

"So, what sort of thing are you going to have them do?"

"Well, I'll have to get to know them first," said Kabuto, putting the Hyuuga files back. "I'm going to put them through an ordeal at six tomorrow morning to see how they deal with pressure, danger, deception, each other, the works."

"You're sick."

"No, if I was sick, I'd have them abducted by missing nin for a few weeks, but there's really not enough time." Kabuto scanned Kimimaro's record. Not surprisingly, there were no broken bones. Kabuto was set to observe Kimimaro for a few weeks after he arrived for suspicious activity. He didn't find anything suspicious, but he did pick up a few stray finger bones.

They were like nothing he had ever seen.

"But in all seriousness," Kabuto continued, "such procedures are customary for new teams. Most of the other sensei are doing something similar."

"Just because they're doing the same thing doesn't mean they know what they're doing. You got to do what only you can do and what's best for your team and no other."

"Yeah," Kabuto said softly. "I know." He took out Uzimaki's records and noticed that Uchiha's were right next to them. Those might be interesting, too.

"Don't underestimate yourself, Kabuto. You may be the youngest one there, but you can hold your own against the best of them."

_You just don't get it._ Kabuto let him keep talking as he looked through Naruto's file. There were several pages of the kid's injuries alone. At first they were just training problems, he tried to do a jutsu he couldn't and ended up straining something. But a couple years ago, he seemed to grow more…aggressive. Almost every week for the past two years, he ended up with something, not just in sparring matches but in fights in general. _The kid has no sense._ But then Kabuto noticed that Naruto managed to break the same arm twice in two weeks. When someone breaks an arm, it usually is in a cast for longer than that. But if it was recorded as two separate breaks…_How fast can you heal?_

Kabuto copied anything interesting into his deck and put everything away. "Have a good day."

"Kabuto, don't underestimate yourself. You weren't put in your position just because they were understaffed."

Kabuto turned around, smiled politely, and waved. "Arigato, senpai." _Clueless._

* * *

He stood in a field of long, dead grass, scattered trees, and mud. From where he stood, Kimimaro could see three suns, each on its own horizon. The purpose was the destination, and the destination lay at an end of this world. If he was going to pick an end, he would end with another beginning, but the life of the day began and ended with the blood soaked sun. 

It was a metaphor for life.

Not that it mattered. The sky was red, but the suns weren't. Kimimaro jumped off of a rough, dark branch and felt the brittle blades of grass crumble as his feet were sucked hungrily into the mud. He picked a sun and ran towards it. None of the suns were red. They were—

His world vanished in a loud noise. He stumbled out of bed and turned off the alarm clock. Kimimaro's mind wandered sluggishly for the reason he was up so early. _Kabuto-sensei._ Right. Kabuto-sensei told him to be at training ground eight at six the next morning. Kimimaro was commanded, and he would obey.

* * *

Naruto had never been up that early in his life. He didn't know that the streets could be so quiet, so empty, with no sign of another living thing for miles. It was dark and misty, but the starlight and moonlight were enough to walk by, and there was nobody around to give him dirty looks or point and whisper that, yes, it _was_ that thing, that _monster._ The ramen shop wasn't open this early, but, all the same, he had to admit that he liked this time of day. 

When he got there, it was just like yesterday. Kimimaro and Hinata were already there and Kabuto-sensei was yet to show up. Kimimaro was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed as though he was asleep. _If anyone can sleep standing up, he can._ Hinata was curled up right next to him. She looked up when she heard him coming, then quickly pretended to be sleeping.

That bothered him, not that he let it show. For the past two years, she had been staring at him, as though he was about to explode in a burst of demonic fury and start killing people. She was nice enough to him, but she was nice to everyone and she was always the first to break eye contact and during those few times she spoke to him, she looked like she wanted to be far, far away.

When he sat down next to her, she tensed up visibly. If he put an arm around her, she'd probably scream. Instead, he stretched, closed his eyes, and waited for Kabuto to get there.

* * *

It was the sunlight that woke her. That and the uncomfortable position of her neck. Hinata looked around, and besides the position of the midmorning sun, nothing had changed. Kimimaro was standing in the exact same position as he was before and Naruto was snoring contentedly next to her. And Kabuto-sensei was still not there. 

"Kimimaro-kun," she said urgently, "Naruto-kun, wake up!" Kimimaro opened his eyes and Naruto rolled over.

"What's wrong?" yawned Naruto. "Woah! It's morning! When did that happen?"

"He should have been here by now," muttered Kimimaro.

"ARGH! We go and get here before the sun rises and _he _forgets to come!"

"Maybe he didn't forget. Maybe he had to attend to one of his other duties."

"Or maybe he meant six in the afternoon."

"No, I remember you making a big deal about having to get up early."

"Hm." Naruto sat down to think. "So I guess we should just do nothing and wait for him to get here."

"I suppose."

"No, we shouldn't. We should start without him!"

"What?"

"Yeah. He's supposed to train us and make us stronger, so if he's not here, we should get stronger on our own. So how about it, Kimimaro? Want to spar?"

Hinata wanted Naruto to win, but she'd seen Kimimaro fight, and he was one of the best, and Naruto, well, wasn't. Sure enough, Kimimaro stepped out of everything Naruto could give him without even blocking, jumped _over_ him, tripped him, and kicked him in midair. Anyone could see that it was over, but he got up and kept going anyway.

Naruto never gave up.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" One became twelve, and twelve as one rushed their one opponent. Kimimaro looked with interest at the unfamiliar jutsu, and with amusement when they started throwing shuriken in his general direction. He noticed vaguely that Naruto managed to surround him.

"You're taking this a bit seriously," said Kimimaro conversationally. "Don't forget, this is only a sparring match."

Naruto grinned savagely in reply. "I take everything seriously." They charged him, but it didn't work. Kimimaro didn't take out any of them, but he couldn't be touched, either. Hinata wasn't sure if he was trying to gauge Naruto's strength or if he was just toying with him, but after a few moments, Kimimaro grew irritated and took out all the kage bunshin almost instantly.

Hinata noticed something about Kimimaro's fighting style. He was obviously a talented taijutsu user, but his brand of taijutsu wasn't just an advanced style taught in the Leaf. His style wasn't a method of Konoha at all. In fact, with its measured steps and flowing grace, it seemed to resemble the Jyuuken slightly. If she was right, then his taijutsu would be made for a special weapon, or a bloodline, or something. She'd have to ask him about it sometime.

"You're better than Sasuke," growled Naruto, getting up. "I'll give you that much."

"Of course," replied Kimimaro. "So are you." He may or may not have been referring to skill, but Naruto took it anyway.

"Kimimaro," he grinned, forming a hand seal, "I like the way you think." He was already beaten soundly twice, but he wasn't finished yet.

But Kimimaro, on the other hand, was. "Hold it," he said. "Why don't you spar with Hinata?"

_What?!_

"What? Hey, I'm not done with you!"

"Yes, I know, but you need to fight against different people, for the, uh, experience in different styles of fighting." He seemed to be making it up as he went along, but Naruto bought it.

He gave her a smile that made her insides turn to jelly. "Hey, Hinata," he said. "Want to spar?"

"O-okay." She hated her voice. Someone could tell she was pathetic just by listening to her. She didn't have her father's voice, a voice that could command respect and fear. The only thing her voice ever commanded was pity from those outside her clan and disgust from those within. Naruto already thought she was freaky, and if they were going to be on a team together, eventually he would know she was a coward, too.

But not yet.

Hinata ran through a set of hand seals and activated her Byukagan. Every time she did, it made her feel a little dizzy, like looking at the world through a drop of water. When she activated her kekkei genkai, so to speak, she didn't change her eyes, but redirected her chakra circulatory system, flooding her eyes with power, letting her see things that others could not.

One of those things was a not stuck to the tree left by their caring sensei.

_Team,_

_Change of plans. Meet me at training ground nine instead, same time._

_-Kabuto_

"What is it, Hinata?"

Wordlessly, she handed Naruto the note. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed. "How'd we miss that? It was right there the whole time!"

"We had better hurry," said Kimimaro.

"Do you think he's still there?" whispered Hinata. "He probably left by now."

"Do you have a better idea?" Hinata shook her head and Naruto started off. "Right! Let's go!"

"Training ground nine is that way," said Kimimaro.

"Right! Let's go!"

* * *

When they got there, they found Kabuto lying down in a patch of dead grass. He looked up when he saw them. "Hey, team, you made it." He glanced at his watch. "And you're only four hours late. Good job." Kimimaro waited nervously. Kabuto-sensei should have been disappointed and he might punish them, but he didn't. He seemed mostly just amused. 

"So, uh, what happens now?" ventured Naruto.

"You're official Leaf ninja now, so you will be performing a number of missions as a team," said Kabuto. "As you know. But first we have to find out what, exactly, that team is." He turned and looked toward the trees. "About one kilometer that way, two rivers become one. Meet me there. The order in which you arrive will determine who remains a genin." He adjusted his glasses, which were sliding down his nose. "And who is slowing the team down. Go."

In a flourish of wind and leaves, he vanished. Kimimaro sped off into the forest. He was commanded, and he would obey. Leaping through the branches in the trees, he was aware that he was leaving his team far behind. But that, too, was Kabuto-sensei's will. _Cannibalism. That's our punishment._ Not a consumption of another's flesh, but of their dreams, a bitter bite of their red heart.

Kimimaro felt something triggered by his footfall, and before he knew it, he was dangling in the air with a rope around his ankle. _Traps._ Lots of them. From where he hung, he could see that the forest was filled with them. Some, like his, were just annoying. Others…he saw Naruto run across a wire, unleashing a shower of shuriken in his direction.

It could have ended right there. Even if it didn't kill him, he would have been too injured to keep going. He would have been eliminated from the race. It could have ended.

But it didn't.

As he stood, frozen, in the face of danger, Hinata came right behind him and knocked him down and out of danger. It was then that Kimimaro realized how lost he was. He had been in Konoha for years, and he still had no idea what it meant. He thought that they were supposed to claw their way through each other's carcasses for the strength and reputation of their village. But if that was not the case…

_Follow their lead._

Kimimaro noticed that Naruto was doing something stupid. He was playing with the trap to see how it worked, but from where Kimimaro was hanging, he could see that it was the kind of trap that could be sprung twice. He sprouted a spear out of his left hand and cut the rope and formed a layer of bone under the skin in his back. The shuriken bounced off of him futilely as he swung under the branch that Naruto and Hinata were standing on.

"What the—how'd you—what is that _thing_ sticking out of your hand?" Naruto sputtered.

Kimimaro showed him the spear as he retracted it into his palm. "My kekkei genkai. Shikotsumyaku."

"Why'd you help me?"

"I don't know."

* * *

Naruto wasn't going to be the last one there. He was always the last one in the academy, dead last, but those days were over. The hitaiate on his forehead proved that. But, dang, Kimimaro was fast. _I'm not going to be left behind,_ he thought._ I am _not_ going back to the academy._

No matter what the price.

It was by chance that he stepped on that particular branch, and it was by chance that that particular branch was trapped, and, when he triggered the trap, it was by his own poor reflexes that he froze. He closed his eyes and threw his arms in front of his face, relying on chance to save him. It wasn't much of a strategy, but it worked. Hinata plowed right into him, knocking him over, out of the way, and nearly off the branch.

"Arigato, Hinata." She backed away quickly. Naruto would probably never understand that about her, but oh well. "You know, I think Kabuto-sensei may have forgot to mention that he was trying to kill us," he said, examining the trap. It seemed to be a basic string trigger thing, so that when you pull the string, it triggers something. "But then again, if we die, that makes his job a lot easier." He tugged on the string to see where it went and heard some shuriken whistle. "Crap!"

It could have ended right there. No matter how slow Kimimaro and Hinata might be, he couldn't limp faster than them. It could have ended right there, but by yet another incredible chance, it didn't. Naruto saw a flash of…something, heard a clang, and then there was Kimimaro standing right beside him.

"What the—how'd you—" he sputtered before he saw a long, white shaft sticking out of Kimimaro's hand. "What is that _thing_ sticking out of your hand?"

"My kekkei genkai," he replied calmly as that white thing, it looked like it was made of bone or something, got sucked up into his palm. "Shikotsumyaku."

"Why'd you help me?" It happened twice, on the same trap, and as embarrassing as it was, it still didn't make any sense.

"I don't know."

_Well, that's helpful._ "Arigato, Kimimaro, but I'm not going to lose to you. I'm not going to get kicked off the team."

"You're aware, of course, that if someone is first, someone must be second, and someone must inevitably be last," said Kimimaro. "And if Kabuto-sensei intends to eliminate the last one there, someone is going to have to take the fall."

"Yeah, well, that's his decision, not mine. And whoever it is, it's not going to be me."

"Tell me, Naruto," he said. "Are you the sort of shinobi who lives each day only for himself, for his _own_ gain, his _own_ ambition, regardless of anything or anyone who gets in his way? Because that is not a shinobi. That's trash."

"I'm going to become Hokage!" he roared. "The greatest Hokage! A ninja legend!" But then he thought of Iruka, and the incredible bout of stupidity that made him a genin. "But being a shinobi won't be much fun if I have to do it alone," he added quietly. He sat down on the branch to think. "I've got it! We should make it so that we all get there at the same time! That way, no one gets there first and no one gets there last!"

"Kabuto-sensei may just think of another way to rank us," suggested Kimimaro. "Or he may consider that insubordination and drop us all."

"Yeah, well, that's his decision," he grinned. "Not mine."

* * *

From there the three of them moved as one, as a team. Weaving around and through the trees and traps that filled the forest, it wasn't long before they made it to the rivers. They made pretty good time, too. Kabuto was impressed. 

"Yosh! There it is!" said Naruto. He was sweaty and panting, but if anything, that only fueled his enthusiasm. "Kabuto-sensei is probably waiting for us right beyond that river!"

"Good," said Kimimaro. "I was in the mood for a swim."

"Kimimaro, Kimimaro, Kimimaro," Naruto said, shaking his head patronizingly. "You should better than that. The only way to go is with style."

He smiled. "And I suppose you would try to walk on water. Or would you prefer to fly?"

Naruto grinned maniacally. "Uzimaki Naruto Slingshot."

"You're joking."

"No, Kimimaro, I don't think he is," said Kabuto. "But as interesting as it would be, that won't be necessary. This is far enough."

"What the—where'd you—I mean, uh, so what happens now?" asked Naruto.

"Now? Now you're done," he replied.

"What? That's it? Weren't you going to kick someone off the team or something?"

"Of course, not, Naruto. Why would I do that?"

"But you said you would!"

"I only said that if you were slowing the team down," Kabuto responded. "I could tell you that no member of a team slows the team down if they work together right, that there is no such thing a dead weight that wants to help, I could even weave in a metaphor with that river over there." He motioned toward the two rivers that became one and adjusted his glasses. "But you already know that, don't you? And in any event, you probably shouldn't believe anything I say. It's just not a good habit to get into."

Kimimaro knelt down by the river bank and grabbed a handful of mud. "How can we learn from you," he asked, watching the mud ooze and divide between his fingers, "if we cannot trust you?"

"Oh no, you can trust me," corrected Kabuto. "In fact, you probably should. But you shouldn't take anything I say on faith. Deception is the art of the shinobi." He reached into his vest and pulled out a letter. "But enough of that. Right now, the village needs our help. As our first D ranked mission, the Hokage wants us to report to the home of an elderly couple on the eastern edge of the village and

Weed

Their

Garden."

* * *

The purpose of the team was not to perform menial labor, Kimimaro soon realized. The purpose of the team was to grow stronger, and to grow stronger as a team so that one day, they might perform their true purpose as the future of Konoha. Most of their actions, under the guidance of their sensei, was directed toward that purpose. 

Above all else, Kabuto stressed originality. "No matter how strong or weak your attack is," he said, "it will have the advantage if your opponent is unfamiliar with it." His philosophy applied to training as well. He used his knowledge as a med-nin to acquaint them with the uses of food pills, soldier pills, clotting pills, strange powders to temporarily cripple their ability to use chakra, and he put them through many other training methods he assured them no one else would be familiar with.

"But Kabuto-sensei! I'm too young to drink!"

"This isn't alcohol, Naruto, it's a CMI, a chakra manipulation inhibitor," he explained. "It's like wearing weights, only for your chakra."

The second person most involved with Kimimaro's training was Naruto. After the very first time they fought, Naruto told him that he wasn't done with him, and he stuck with his word. Almost every day, Kimimaro would find himself stabbing, slashing, cutting, and kicking his way through his teammate's one man army, and though Kimimaro was forced to use both his kekkei genkai and his dances on another person, which he had not done in years, he remained untouched.

It wasn't that Naruto was a bad fighter. When he used his head, he could come up with ideas that would even impress Kabuto. But more often he just used blind rage and tried to overwhelm his opponent with numbers. And if Kimimaro was good at anything, he was good at dealing with blind rage and superior numbers.

"That was new," panted Naruto, pulling his mask down off his face. The mask was another of Kabuto's methods, for controlled breathing and simulated altitude. "I haven't seen you use that dance before."

"Karamatsu no mai," he said, reabsorbing the bone and putting his shirt back on. "Dance of the Pines. One of the dances for my bloodline."

"So there's the Yanagi thing, for when it comes out of your palm, and the Karamatsu thing for when it comes out everywhere?"

_Close enough._ "Hai."

"Is there a dance for your sword too?" Kimimaro nodded. "How come you've never used that?"

"Yanagi no mai, the Dance of the Willow, epitomizes speed and flexibility," he explained. "Karamatsu no mai literally replicates the needles of a pine tree and requires sheer power more than anything else. The dance for my sword is Tsubaki no mai, Dance of the Camellia, which I cannot do."

"Why not?"

"Because the Dance of the Camellia exemplifies perfection. It requires perfect balance, perfect precision, and perfect _rhythm_. I can never get the rhythm right."

"You know," said Kabuto, butting in, "when people perform dances, it's usually to music. Have you tried that?"

"No, Kabuto-sensei. I did not think it practical to listen to music on the battlefield."

"Sound can get you deeper than you know." For a moment a glare went over his glasses, and in his eyes Kimimaro thought he could almost see… "Naruto, you've always struck me as a percussionist," he continued lightly. "Beat two sticks together in a repetitive fashion. People have found some interesting things about people and music. Take your heart for example. If you're listening to any song with a steady rhythm, whether on every one, half, or third beat, your pulse will try to imitate the song's."

"Oddly enough," said Kimimaro, "my brother also—" That was it! Onii-san had a gift for music, and he was the only one who could perfect the Camellia. And if the rhythm was in the heart…_the rhythm of life, conducting the Dance of the Camellia._ It was the only solution, because it was the perfect one. It was too perfect, _artistic._

He listened to his pulse and found that it was indeed matching the beat Naruto was hitting. "Arigato," he said. "But I think I figured it out now." He left to work on it on his own.

_Just learn how to keep your heart steady,_ he told himself._ That's all there is to it._

* * *

Kimimaro had run off somewhere and Hinata…Naruto couldn't see her. She was probably off somewhere, too, working on her Jyuuken thing. She usually did a lot off that sort of stuff by herself. He would have to ask her about it sometime. 

"So, Kabuto-sensei," he said.

"Yes?"

"It's not that these D ranked missions are boring or anything…"

"Of course not."

"But they are _incredibly dull!_ How long will it be until we get a real mission? One that will let me show off my incredible ninja skills?"

"You know what, Naruto?" he said thoughtfully. "If I remember correctly, you have asked me that after every single D ranked mission we have accomplished."

"And every time you say—"

"And every time, you use the exact same approach, the exact same, blunt, straight forward approach that hasn't worked yet. Do you see what's wrong with that, Naruto? If one method doesn't work, then it means that that method does not work, and you need to try another one. For example, do you know how to manipulate people more powerful than you?"

"No."

"Ah. Well, it's not really an art of a shinobi, but it's a useful skill all the same. In fact, it's a lot like shogi. Have you ever played that?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, some people will tell you that it's a game of strategy, but really it's a game of character." Naruto didn't get it. "Let me show you," Kabuto said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like one of the most disturbingly large pills Naruto had ever seen. "Here, take this."

"What, am I supposed to eat this?" he asked, making a face.

"No," he laughed. "It's not a pill, it's an ear piece. Stick it in your ear and it will let you listen in."

"Listen in to what?"

Kabuto started walking away, assuming Naruto would follow. "Subtlety is something you need to know, and it is about time you learned.

* * *

As leaders went, the Sandaime wasn't that bad. Usually, when people become exceptionally powerful, they become exceptionally childish as well. Kabuto never told them that, because powerful, childish men tend to respond to honesty in childishly destructive manners. Like he just told his student, the key was subtlety, but subtly changing the subject to what he wanted wasn't that difficult because the Sandaime was already concerned about Kabuto's team, possibly more than Kabuto was. 

"And Naruto, surprise, surprise, asks me every day for the sort of mission that could get him killed," Kabuto related conversationally.

The Hokage laughed unsteadily. "I would have expected nothing else. Very few young shinobi have no desire to prove themselves, and none have ever matched his enthusiasm."

The second key was to convince the subject that what you want is what he wants. "I used to think that too, Hokage-sama," Kabuto said. "But, like you said earlier, I do not have an ordinary team."

He took the bait. "What do you mean?"

"Kimimaro is the single most skilled ninja his age that I have ever seen, but neither he nor Naruto have any living relatives near here, and their 'home,' so to speak, does not accept them. Even though Naruto was born here, they are both…foreign."

"Like you," he nodded.

"No. No, Hokage-sama, they are nothing like me. I had the chief of the medical staff to back me up, and you _don't_ mess with him. The only one on my team with a family is Hinata, and I think half of them are hoping that she gets killed to make the succession go easier. Kimimaro only has the random guy who recognizes his clan and expects him to start killing people, and Naruto has foxhunters."

The old man sighed wearily though his pipe. "I see. So what is it that you want?"

"In an ideal society, my students would already be trusted," said Kabuto. "This is not an ideal society. They must pay a price, and the only currency Konoha will accept is blood." The Hokage gave him a hard look, so Kabuto hurried on quickly. "Yes, they have something to prove, same as everybody, but they don't have to prove _just_ their worth, they have to prove their loyalty. I suppose the most effective way to let them do that would be a C ranked mission or something."

"Are they ready?"

Kabuto laughed shortly. "No one is completely ready for the first of anything. And if they were, there would be no risk and therefore no point. But they are as close to being ready as they'll ever be, and besides, they need it more. Though, I have a pretty good team, by anyone's standards, and I will get all of them back alive." Already, he could see he had the old man hooked. "I promise."

* * *

When Kabuto got back to his team, they were already waiting for him. That was probably Naruto's work. He was grinning from ear to ear in anticipation, the other two were patiently confused and were giving each other worried looks. "We're going on a C ranked mission," Kabuto announced. 

"Yes, I know," said Naruto smugly. "I had you bugged. I heard everything."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses so Naruto couldn't see him roll his eyes. "Our objective is to take down…" He stopped. "Actually, team seven already ran into this guy, so let's make this an information gathering exercise. Right. All of you are to find a member of team seven and find out what you can about our target, a C ranked missing-nin named Haku."

* * *

a/n Wow, longest chapter yet! I'm starting to write like all those other people I hate because they're better than me. I didn't want to make it two chapters, because then I would have to find another quote, and I didn't want to do that. By the way, if you're not familiar with the play, Cassius was a manipulative traitor who got Ceasar's friends to turn against him, and the thing sort of makes me think of Kabuto, but also how Naruto fights better when he thinks. Oh yeah, and thanks to all my loyal fans who left reviews and made me think that I'm good at this. And the dream that Kimimaro had, that actually is a dream that I had because I wanted to think of a dream and I have no imagination whatsoever. Does it mean anything? Probably not, but he'll think it does, and that's got to count for something. And if I didn't make it clear enough, Naruto thinks that Kimimaro and Hinata know he has the Kyuubi sealed within him, but they really don't. I heard something about dramatic irony some years ago, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to use it ineffectively. And the thing about shogi being a game of character, that's something my brother told my dad after he managed to use his dental surgery to beat him in chess. 


	5. I Cried to Dream Again

Dance of the Hidden Leaves

Chapter Five

a/n I own nothing

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,  
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.  
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments  
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices  
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,  
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,  
The clouds methought would open and show riches  
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,  
I cried to dream again.

-_The Tempest_ by Shakespeare

It was all going so well. They knew what they were up against, and they were prepared. It was so easy, Haku wouldn't even have to kill anyone, and so he took his time, tossing needles from mirror to mirror, spewing drops of blood and superficial cuts that would leave no lasting damage. It was all going so well…

And then it all fell to pieces.

A flash of lightning, and his closest friend fell down dead. Haku would have jumped in front of him in a heart beat, he owed Zabuza-san much more than that. But he was stuck, tied to the shadow of someone he _chose not to kill._ It was his soft selfishness that screwed everything up. As he watched the dogs lick up the pool of blood, the thought kept on running through his head, _it's all your fault!_

Zabuza-san was a murderer, and he deserved his fate, and though it hurt Haku to admit it, he knew that it was true, but the truth that hurt even more was that if he had the heart of a shinobi, the heart that Zabuza-san always wanted him to have, this never would have happened. Later, as he stood alone with his corpse digging a hole, he was aware that his tears were freezing his mask to his face. _This is it,_ he thought. After everything Zabuza-san had done for him, there was nothing Haku could do for his friend.

Except bury him.

* * *

The mission was to gather information, and Naruto was not going to screw up. He was going to excel. He was going to get more information about the target than Kimimaro and Hinata combined. But that didn't mean he couldn't take the opportunity to talk to a pretty girl.

"Hey, Sakura-chan," he called out after he caught a glimpse of pink hair. "I want to talk to you!"

When she saw him, she rolled her eyes and sighed theatrically, but it was too theatrical, too exaggerated to be sincere. It was just her way of hiding her true feelings. She couldn't fool a skilled ninja like him, but Naruto had to compliment her persistence. "What now, Naruto?"

"I was just wondering how your last mission went."

"For what?"

"I can't tell you," Naruto said suavely. "It's classified."

She turned around and started walking away. "Go away. I really don't want to talk to you right now. You're being annoying."

"No, wait, Sakura-chan, I—" _If one method doesn't work, then it means that that method does not work,_ Kabuto-sensei told him. _And you're supposed to try another one._ Naruto tried the straightforward familiar approach, and it didn't work. _So I'll try the exact opposite!_ "You know what? I don't want to talk to you either." And he turned around and walked away.

"Okay," she said, and said nothing more.

* * *

They were a team, and as a team, each individual must act for the benefit of all. For their information to be as complete as possible, they must exhaust all possible resources. It wouldn't be appropriate for one of them to question a jounin instructor, especially one from another team, so that left three sources, one for each. Naruto was considered unpredictable, but that was only to people who didn't know him. Kimimaro could predict him just fine, and knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't ask Sasuke for help if is life depended on it. Hinata might, but it wasn't likely, so that left only Sasuke for Kimimaro.

"Excuse me, Sasuke."

He glanced up from the targets he was aiming at. "What?" He seemed to be trying to bounce two kunai off each other in midair.

"I need information about Haku." That was a name Sasuke seemed to recognize. "I understand you dealt with him on a previous mission."

"I have," he said slowly.

"Can you tell me anything about him?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and twirled a kunai around his finger absently. "I'll make a deal with you," he said. "When I fought Haku, I gained, something, something powerful, something I haven't gotten to use since. Give me the opportunity to use it again, and I'll give you what you want." He smiled and opened up a pair of blood red eyes. "This won't go like last time. I thought you were Shikamaru. I didn't know what I was up against."

This was a mission, and to hold back, to not do everything in your power to succeed, that would be defiant, _traitorous_. Kimimaro wasn't like that. He would obey. "No," he said as he sprouted twin spears out of his palms. "And you still don't."

* * *

Clouds looked like clouds, and it didn't make any sense to try to imagine them to be anything else. Some people try to imagine that a cloud looks like a lizard or a dog, but Shikamaru never did. Clouds were clouds, they were good at that and they made pretty lousy animals. He didn't understand why people tried to make things into something they're not.

Take Shikamaru, for example. He was a mediocre shinobi destined for a mediocre life with a mediocre future. Then he somehow managed to get dragged off to a different country and was expected to be a hero. He didn't want to be a hero. He wanted to be left alone.

But no one ever seemed to want to leave him alone.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" he heard Naruto yell. "I need your help with something."

"Naruto?" he moaned. "What do you want?"

"You know anything about this guy named Haku?"

"A bit more than I'd like to. Why?"

"Good! I need all the information you have on him!"

_What do you want with him?_ Shikamaru thought. _I'm sure he just wants to be left alone, too._ "I don't really feel like it right now. Ask someone else."

"Wait, hold it!" Naruto said. Shikamaru wasn't going anywhere. He was just lying down. "I'll make a deal with you. You like shogi, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Shikamaru wasn't much of a ninja, but shogi was something he was actually fairly decent at.

"Well, how about this? I play you in a round of shogi, and if I win, you have to tell me about Haku."

_And if you lose, you'll just think of something else,_ he thought.

"You may be good at the game," continued Naruto. "But I know a thing or two about shogi. Like it's all about character."

"What?"

"You'll see," Naruto replied smugly.

Shikamaru enjoyed the game, and he could beat Naruto pretty easily, but he wasn't sure that Naruto even knew how to play. He imagined what it would be like playing a board game with that guy.

_Yeah! I rule at this game!_ Naruto would say, very, very loudly. _Your pond is mine! Because I am Uzimaki Naruto, the Dominator! I'm going to dominate you, I'm going to dominate your mom, I'm going to dominate your girlfriend—_

_First of all,_ he would have to correct him,_ it's not a pond, it's a _pawn_, and second of all, knights can't move like that._

A game with Naruto didn't seem like much fun. "Okay, Naruto. You win. I'll talk.

* * *

Gathering information. That was not something they stressed at the academy, and Kabuto-sensei didn't teach them that. At least not specifically. Hinata kept on thinking about spying on people and listening into their conversations or tying them onto a rack and stretching out their limbs until they talk. She didn't think the first method would work and the second method might make her hurl.

_You're making this too difficult for yourself,_ she told herself. _This might be something you're good at._ Or something easy, more likely. She didn't know how long they were supposed to take, but she could bet that Naruto-kun and Kimimaro-kun already learned all they needed to. Kimimaro probably did something skillful and effective that would only work for him. Naruto probably did something brilliantly simple that anyone could do who was willing to try hard enough.

That was the great thing about him. It wasn't that Naruto was any more skilled than anyone else, but he believed in himself enough to make up for it. If he had to fail a hundred times before he got anywhere, he would, and he would get somewhere eventually. Hinata wasn't any more skilled than he was, so if Naruto's method would work for him, then it might work for her, too.

Naruto-kun would ask the first person he met.

She felt the veins in her face bulge with chakra as she activated her Byukagan. The first person she saw was Naruto. It always worked that way. She noticed the people she knew before anyone else, and his chakra circulatory system was especially distinctive. He was talking with Shikamaru, who was on team seven, but she didn't want to bother them. Hinata couldn't see Sasuke anywhere, so he must have been out of her range, but Sakura was alone and fairly close by.

"Ano, Sakura-chan?" she asked when she caught up with her.

"Hm?" She turned around. "Oh, hey, Hinata. How're you doing?"

"I am well," she replied. "I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

"You see, I—we—my _team_…"

Sakura nodded patiently.

_Just say it!_ "I need you to tell me about Haku."

She blinked in surprise.

"You have…you did run into him…"

"Oh no, it's not that," Sakura said quickly. "It's just that you're the second person today to ask me about my last mission."

"Sumimasen. I didn't mean to—"

"Oh, don't apologize. So is this something your whole team is doing, or what?"

"Hai. Haku is the name of our target, and Kabuto-sensei sent us to investigate him."

"Really? I thought that Naruto was just trying to—never mind. Well, I didn't fight him, but I'll tell you what I know."

* * *

Kabuto examined his card one last time before putting it back in his deck. It left a lot of detail to be desired, but it had Haku's abilities, past affiliations, weapon preference, and a picture. Sure, in the picture he was wearing a mask, but Kabuto could still work with it.

"Arigato, Kakashi," Kabuto said, putting his deck in his pocket.

"No problem," he replied. "And good luck with your mission."

"No matter what happens," Kabuto laughed, "we probably won't run into any S class missing-nins. I can't imagine what it would be like to run into someone like that as a rookie."

"Yeah, well, I got lucky," he admitted easily as he took out his book. "Sasuke's Sharingan developed just when we needed it."

"Oh, really?" Kabuto made a mental note to put that in Sasuke's card.

"And Shikamaru turned out to be a geninus."

"You're kidding. Shikamaru?"

"I was surprised too. Turns out he's not stupid, he's just lazy, but he can plan things out twenty moves ahead without a problem." Kakashi found the page he was on and started reading. "So how's your team going?"

"They're doing great," Kabuto said enthusiastically. "I started working them on—hey, is that your student breathing fire at my student?"

Kakashi barely glanced up from his book. "Yep."

* * *

He didn't like metal. The best thing about his kekkei genkai was that Kimimaro never needed to use metal. It wasn't particularly strong, it wasn't particularly elegant, and the sharpest part was the noise it made.

Sasuke used metal, and it suited him perfectly.

As a fighter, Sasuke wasn't unskilled. He had a decent assortment of abilities. He was pretty fast, he had pretty good reflexes, he knew some good shuriken tricks, and he knew some fairly impressive ninjutsu.

Kimimaro didn't have much experience with fire attacks, but he assumed that it would be easier to dodge than to block. But Sasuke managed to guess where he'd jump, and threw some shuriken at him. Kimimaro blocked them easily, but the piercing twang made him wince, though he noticed that Sasuke wasn't where he used to be. The obvious answer was that he tried to get behind Kimimaro for a third attack, and Sasuke proved to be predictable.

Sasuke also proved to be surprisingly flexible in midair. Not only did he manage to stop his own kick, he also dodged three consecutive thrusts and a kick before they hit the ground.

After they got some distance from each other, Kimimaro realized something. _He's not a kage bunshin, baka! If you stab him through the chest, he may die._ "Sumimasen, Sasuke," he said. "I'm used to fighting Naruto."

"I am _nothing_ like Naruto," he spat.

"No," Kimimaro agreed. _You're mortal._ "But let me show you something. Perhaps your red eyes will be able to keep up with it." He stepped into the position of the first dance. "But the rest of you won't. Yanagi no mai!"

* * *

Shikamaru proved to be a gold mine of information.

"Sasuke fought this guy longer than I did," Shikamaru said. "I was only around for one of his techniques, so don't expect me to be a gold mine of information or anything."

He was a gold mine in denial, but Naruto wasn't picky. "Go on."

"The attack I saw was probably a mix of three," he continued. "He surrounds you with ice mirrors, goes into them, and shoots you full of needles until you die. Supposedly he moves from mirror to mirror too fast to see, but I think that he may have used Mizu Bunshin, water clones, instead. He was with a group of shinobi from the Mist, and at least one of them knew that jutsu. Two more used a trick to hide in a puddle of water, and I think he did something like that to fit in the mirrors."

"Right. Got that," said Naruto. "So. How'd you win?"

"Sacrifice."

"Sacrifice? Like a _human_ sacrifice?"

"I sacrificed a piece," Shikamaru explained, "and he sacrificed position. It's a shogi expression."

"Oh. Shogi. Yeah. I knew that," Naruto lied. "So what happened next?"

Shikamaru sat down, glanced at a hand he noticed was trembling, and for a moment didn't answer.

* * *

_Shikamaru looked across the mist at his captured, masked foe, and over at the breathless, lifeless, pincushion. _

"_Murderer."_

_The mask said nothing, only waited._

"_I'll kill you." He took out a kunai and took aim._

"_By all means," the mask spoke. "You've won. I've lost. I let him down too completely to forgive. So if you'd like to kill me, than go ahead. Or did your friend not mean that much to you?"_

_He flung the blade at the ground and fell to his knees. The mask mimicked his motions perfectly, and for a moment it looked like he was making fun of him. _

"_No. I don't want to kill you. I just want to watch you suffer." The mist was thinning, and Shikamaru could see Kakashi-sensei finishing his fight. He won too. _

_That's it. He would take him to Kakashi. Kakashi would know how to deal with him. It looked like he was about to deal death to his own opponent, but that was his choice. Shikamaru didn't want to be the one to deal with it._

_Suddenly, his whole body spasmed out of control, almost knocking him off balance. It lasted only for a moment, and he steadied himself quickly, but the boy in the mask, Haku, writhed and thrashed in the confines of his shadow, trying to force himself free. _

"_Let me go!" he screamed. "I have to—ZABUZA-SAN!"_

_He tried to break free, to stop it from happening, but he wasn't in a position to do anything at all.  
_

_And in a flash of lightning, he stopped his vain struggle, and went very, very still._

* * *

"So what happened next?"

"Nothing," lied Shikamaru. "After I caught him, someone hired an angry mob to kill us, and then there was a blizzard, and when it was all over, he was gone."

* * *

After they got enough information, they were supposed to pack up and get ready to leave. Naruto knew that he was supposed to pack light. On a tracking mission like this, it was just common sense. He filled his backpack with provisions, a sleeping mat, some rope, some extra shuriken, and that was it. He didn't know how long the mission was going to be, and he had no idea how he was going to be able to go without ramen for that long, but a shinobi had to be willing to endure all circumstances, and Naruto was going to be the best, no matter what.

On the way to the designated meeting ground, a few doors down from his own room in the same apartment complex, he saw Kimimaro with his pack coming out of his room.

"What the—" Naruto shouted. "You _live_ here?"

"Yes," Kimimaro replied in his calm, patient manner, the same way he said _anything_.

"But—but, how long has it been like that?"

"Since I came to this villiage."

"How come you never _told_ me we were neighbors?"

"I assumed you knew," Kimimaro said innocently as he started to close the door.

"No, wait!" Naruto interrupted as he barged into his room. "I want to see if your place is nicer than mi—HOLY CRAP!" Not only was Kimimaro's room immaculately clean, but all over the walls and shelves there morbid sculptures made entirely of bones. On one shelf lay a bird in the act of eating out of a man's skull and on another there was the most disturbing ornamental cup Naruto had ever seen.

"What…what is this?" he asked, a little frightened.

"This? This is art. It's something I've been working on. Some people say they put their own blood and sweat into their work. I like to think that I've done a little bit more."

"But…why? Is it to strengthen your kekkei genkai, or…" Naruto stopped. Kimimaro smiled every now and then, but this time, _this time,_ he could see _teeth_. And for a moment he almost thought he heard a laugh.

"Think about it," Kimimaro said, still smiling darkly. "You pride yourself with your skills as a ninja, but in this village alone, there are more than a hundred ninja more skilled than you are. Even if you accomplish your dream, and become Hokage, there will still be many who can fill that role, if not better, than close enough so that it wouldn't matter. And you, exclusively at least, will not be needed. But _this_," he motioned toward his macabre artwork, "_this_ is something that no one else can do, a gift that only I can give. You may think it's perverse, you may think it's grotesque, and you may be right. But it's something that no one else will _ever_ duplicate." Kimimaro walked to the center of the room and looked up. "To be honest, it looks rather empty without the chandelier here," he added pensively. "But someone bought it a few weeks ago." Kimimaro shook himself from his thoughts and walked out the door again. "But Kabuto-sensei is expecting us. And I will not keep him waiting."

* * *

No matter how much stuff there was to do, Hinata could always find time to worry. Sakura had been kind enough to inform her about the target, but Hinata wasn't sure she found anything useful. Sakura told her that Haku had a rare kekkei genkai, but not a practical way to combat it. He also used jutsu in combination with another man who died, which would force him to change his method entirely. Also, when he fought team seven, he went through the trouble of making his enemies play dead when it would have been easier to kill them outright. It was possible that he just didn't want to kill people, but if that was the case, he wouldn't be in the company of murderers. It was more likely that he followed a discipline that forbid taking another's life, but Hinata didn't know of any that matched, so that knowledge wasn't very useful either.

She would probably just get in the way unless she asked her teammates for help, and then they would think she wasn't pulling her weight. As if they didn't already.

After that, there was the packing. Hinata had about as much experience packing as gathering information or tracking missing-nins. If she brought only food pills, it would be a pretty austere trip, but if she brought real food, it would only weigh her down and would be completely useless if they didn't have the time or means to prepare it. And that wasn't even getting to weapons.

Eventually, she decided that no matter what, she was going to screw up, so she might as well just take what she knew she would need and leave behind the stuff she would probably need but didn't have room for.

In the quiet, almost desolate hallway, she past by her father. She averted her eyes downward as she past, but she still saw the look he gave her. Years ago, he looked at her with disappointment when she proved incapable of all but the most rudimentary Jyuuken techniques. Later, disappointment grew into sheer disgust, disgust that this defectively weak little coward was, though some cosmic joke, related to him.

But even that was better than the present. From then on, he avoided her and focused entirely on Hinata's seven year old sister, Hanabi. He focused on _her_ strength, _her_ progress, because Hanabi, unlike some people, proved mildly competent. And now, whenever he looked at Hinata, he looked at her like he would a stranger, a stranger that he knew he should recognize from somewhere, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. She hurried past him before he called out her name.

"Hinata. Where are you going?"

"I have a mission," she explained. "I hope to be back in a few days."

"Then go," he said dismissively.

"Hai, Otousan." And she turned to leave.

"Just don't get in everyone's way," he added.

"Hai, Otousan."

* * *

This was his first mission, his first _real_ mission, not the wussy shlub work they usually made him do, and Naruto was going show everyone what he was made of. Kabuto-sensei said that they had to find and take out Haku, the C ranked missing nin, for the Mist village. That seemed simple enough, but it got better. If they find Haku, and capture him _alive_, and deliver him alive to the Mist, then the other village offered to bump it up to a _B_ ranked mission, and to do a B ranked mission as a _genin_, that would be incredible. Kabuto-sensei explained some stuff about diplomacy and foreign relations, little of which Naruto understood, but it sounded cool. More than cool, it sounded like something worthy of the future Hokage.

And yet, so far, this B or C ranked mission seemed a lot like tedious periods of walking. It was so monotonous that Naruto found himself talking to Kimimaro about, believe it or not, names.

"You identify others by their names, and you, in turn, identify yourself by your name," Kimimaro explained. "You have to live with your name your whole life, and you gradually absorb the meaning and nature of that name into your being and personality."

"Uh-huh," said Naruto, unconvinced. "So what does Naruto mean?"

Kimimaro closed his eyes in thought, trying to reason it out, or at least invent something convincing. "Naruto is a type of fish cake, correct?" Naruto nodded. "The fish…" He paused. "The fish is the universal symbol for happiness, but as a cake, it is dead and about to be eaten. As it is about to cease, not for its own dreams and ambitions, but for the enjoyment of a superior being, you have to ask yourself, is that fish still happy?"

Naruto paused for a moment to let it sink in before replying. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"So you see why it fits."

"And since when is the fish a universal symbol for happiness?"

"It's common knowledge," Kimimaro replied, keeping a straight face. "All but the deliberately ignorant know that."

"Okay, but what does Uzimaki mean?"

"I've never eaten uzimaki, so I wouldn't know. What does it mean?"

Naruto considered the question pointless, but he thought about it despite himself. Hyuuga Hinata was from the Hyuuga clan, Kaguya Kimimaro was from the Kaguya clan, but Uzimaki Naruto… That name did not come from his family. His only heritage was the Kyuubi, the demon that nearly destroyed his home. As one of the unidentifiable orphans found in the aftermath of the disaster, he received a name out of necessity, by random, by chance. _Chance._ If, by chance, he was born two weeks earlier, some other poor sucker would have had to deal with the cold fire of the village, the fate of being a jinchuuriki, and if, by chance, he was born two weeks later, he wouldn't have had to deal with anything at all. But that _chance_ defined the way people had seen him since he was born, and that was why he was the first—and the last—Uzimaki.

"This is far enough," Kabuto said casually. "Let's take a break."

"What? But if we go so slow, we'll never get there!"

"I think we'll manage," Kabuto smiled as he took off his pack. "And Hinata?" Then he stopped talking and started doing something weird with his mouth. After a moment, Naruto realized that he was mouthing something silently, but before Naruto could try to read his lips, Kabuto stopped.

But Hinata understood him just fine. Her eyes grew wide with fear, but she activated her Byukagan, engorging her veins around her eyes. It had the impression of having plant roots worming under her skin so that she looked kind of creepy but really cool at the same time.

"There's nine—" she started, but a group of strange ninja jumped out of the trees, threw smoke bombs at them, and attacked.

This was his big chance. This was his first real mission and the first time he could save his friends in danger. This was his chance to show everyone what he was made of. _The future Hokage._ It was the moment of truth, but in truth, he hadn't a clue what he was supposed to do. He froze.

* * *

As a child, Kimimaro possessed a single purpose. Someone would tell him to fight, and he would fight. Someone would tell him to kill, and he would kill. He had inherited more skill than any other in his clan for over a hundred years, and his talent wrote his purpose in blood. When he stood, surrounded by the corpses of men, cut down like wheat, he had a fleeting moment of clarity. It was his duty and his life to extend the hand of death to the enemies of his homeland.

That fact held firm in any homeland.

Kimimaro could see nothing through the thick smoke, but he could still hear, and he could still feel. He heard the sounds of battle, a muffled scream, and the scrape of metal. He felt the point of a kunai on his back, cutting through his shirt and skin and scratching his bony shell.

Kimimaro grabbed the man's wrist with his right hand, sprouted a spear with his left, and ran it through his flesh. Kimimaro couldn't see him, so he would have assumed that he was dead if he didn't scream. But he screamed, and Kimimaro was told to never turn his back on a living enemy, so he stabbed him once, twice more until the screaming stopped. But when he died, Kimimaro didn't just hear the silence, he _felt_ it, too. For a moment, his ribs turned to ice, and he knew, without doubt, that the man was dead. Kimimaro felt that marvelous sensation twice more, and he knew that two others had fallen.

It was the sixth sense of the Kaguya clan. _Only in battle can we find purpose._ That was the characteristic and the curse of the Kaguya. As a people, they valued strength and killing, but only as much as those things involved death. Death, the end of all things, was also their beginning, signified by the blood markings on their foreheads and around their eyes. _Death before my eyes, and I think of nothing else._

Later he would feel terrified at what he had done, at what he had felt. But, for the first time in his life, he enjoyed what he had to do, not only because someone needed him to do it, but because the act itself was enjoyable. Was that so wrong?

The fighting stopped, the smoke cleared, and they had a body count.

One carcass lay face down at Kimimaro's feet and two more, dead but apparently unwounded, around Kabuto-sensei. Naruto was alive, but he stood in the exact spot he was earlier, only now he was pale and gradually turning green.

"W-what just happened?" He sounded scared. Odd, the danger had past and those enemy ninja weren't especially skilled anyway.

"We were attacked," said Kabuto-sensei. He had a profound ability to state the obvious without sounding sarcastic or patronizing. "It's one of the dangers of traveling. Ninja from an enemy village notice you and try to pick off small groups." He examined the corpses for identification that wasn't there. "Or maybe they were independent and hoped we had something valuable. Either way, this is nothing suspicious." Kabuto got up and looked at his team searchingly. "But you know what is suspicious? Symmetry."

"What?"

"Yes, symmetry," he continued. "Most people try to ignore it, but everyone has one eye further from the center than the other, one further down than the other, and one further forward than the other. It's like that with ears, too. You're asymmetrical, and, Kimimaro, you're asymmetrical, but about two minutes ago, Hinata stopped being asymmetrical."

Kabuto suddenly threw a kunai at her and, when she dodged that, followed it up with a punch. But before Naruto could do anything about his usually sensible sensei, a henge was disrupted and Hinata turned into a complete stranger.

"That was pretty quick," the stranger said to Kabuto. "We should do this again sometime." And he vanished.

But Kabuto vanished after him, and Naruto heard a piercing scream from the trees before the man was thrown to the ground, clutching the severed tendon of his injured knee.

"You have someone that belongs to us," he said steadily. "You're going to sing, one way or another. How much you bleed first is your decision."

* * *

She knew that if it came to a fight, she would be the first to fall. But even Hinata didn't think it would be over that quickly. Even though she was the only one who could see in the smoke, she was still outnumbered, outmatched, and altogether overwhelmed.

Before she knew it, she was gagged, bound, and carried like a sack of rice through the forest. She couldn't scream for help, and she couldn't try to do something heroic. _More like desperate._

She had one hope and one hope only. Naruto, Kimimaro, and Kabuto; they wouldn't be defeated so easily. After they were done fighting, they would notice she was gone, and if they could afford to postpone their mission, they would find her, they would track her down and rescue her.

Then it started to rain.

"We may have underestimated your comrades," said her captor, leaping from branch to branch. "But we always make sure to have the elements on our side. They won't be able to track us in the rain."

But he didn't say what these people wanted her for. They didn't kill her yet, so they probably weren't going to, which was a good thing, right? She was worried that they might try to interrogate her, but she didn't know anything important. But wait. _This happened before._ She was kidnapped before, when she was three, by some cloud ninja. She slept through the whole thing, but what they wanted was her…

She stopped feeling the rain because they were inside. It was the hideout of these men, and the shelves were lined with containers and medical equipment. Hinata could do nothing as they tied her to a bed but watch. This would the last time she _could _watch.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way," said one of her captors, taking an IV from a cabinet. He motioned to it. "Do you know what this is?"

Hinata was gagged, and said nothing.

"Oh yeah," he forced a laugh. "You can't answer." He pushed up her sleeve and cleaned an inch of her arm to place the needle. "This won't hurt as much if you don't squirm."

Whenever she got shots, someone would tell her to look away. No one did this time, and besides, she spent enough of her life looking away. It was about time she turned and faced something.

She always expected needles to hurt more than they really did. Compared to how she thought it would feel, the processes was virtually painless. Until he squeezed the fluid in the IV into her bloodstream.

Hinata had never felt anything close to that injection. Barbed wire slashed through her veins. She kicked and thrashed as much as her confines would allow. If she could ask someone to cut off her arm, she would. But she couldn't even scream.

She could do nothing as the toxin burned its way up her arm. And into her heart. And up her throat.

And into her eyes.

And for the first time in her life, her Byukagan was activated against her will.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way," he said again, sterilizing a scalpel. "But look at it this way. What have you done for your eyes that I have not done for mine? You were born, and I was born, and you came out ahead. Some children are born with no eyes at all. So now I am releasing you from your fate. And burdening you with theirs."

* * *

"That took too long," muttered Kabuto. "I must be losing my touch." They were running through the trees in the pouring rain, hoping that they were going in the right direction, hoping that fear could make men honest.

"Hey, Kabuto-sensei?" Naruto asked. "What do they want with Hinata?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But they didn't attack until after she activated her Byukagan, and once they had her, they left. My guess is they want her eyes."

"Her eyes?! That's sick! Why'd they want her eyes?"

"Hinata has a kekkei genkai, and that gives her an advantage against those who don't. Also, the Byukagan is one of the most powerful bloodlines in Konoha. Anyone willing to sell one or two of them could become very wealthy very quickly."

"But, but, those are _Hinata's_ eyes!" Naruto protested. "They won't work for just anybody, will they?"

Kabuto repressed a laugh. "Ever heard of Sharingan no Kakashi? He's one of the more famous ninja in Konoha. But he didn't always have the Sharingan. The Sharingan is another powerful bloodline, that gives its user an advantage in taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu, but it is only found among the Uchiha. Conveniently, one of his teammates was a Uchiha, and one day, when his team returned from a mission, Kakashi had a Sharingan eye, and the Uchiha was dead."

"What? Did he—he didn't _kill_…"

"I wasn't there. But in any event, only those who personally knew Kakashi's teammate really cared. He was possibly the worst shinobi of his year, a hopeless idiot, and Kakashi was brilliant. Kakashi considered it a gift for his promotion to jounin. And everyone admitted that the village would be better off with Sharingan no Kakashi than Kakashi and his teammate."

Naruto started to feel sick. People who get ahead by killing their friends…_ Such are heroes._ "Even if it was the right thing to do, he shouldn't have done it!"

Kabuto laughed.

"I'm being serious!"

"That's what's so funny."

Before Naruto could object, something crossed his mind. _Kakashi had a Sharingan eye, and the Uchiha was dead._ "When they're done with Hinata, they won't…"

"Don't worry, Naruto. We'll get there in time. And even if we don't, they'll leave us to tend to her wounds to slow us down. And I don't think anyone can use Hinata's eyes better than she can, so we'll have to hunt down those scum and get her eyes back."

"Kabuto-sensei," Kimimaro said suddenly. "Haku also has a kekkei genkai. Would these men be interested in him too?"

Kabuto couldn't help but laugh inwardly at his team. Naruto cared fiercely for his friends, and Kimimaro cared only for his duty. It was only on rare occasions like these that their interests could work together. But before Kabuto could answer him, they found the hideout.

* * *

Her eyes were all she had. They made her who she was. She was barely worth anything with them, but without them, she would have nothing to offer her team at all. A warm tear streamed down her cheek, the last she would ever shed.

And that's when she saw the dragon.

Nothing is hidden from the Byukagan, and even though it was beyond the scapel and the man holding it, and even beyond the roof, she could see it. A shinobi stood atop the structure, molding his chakra into the rain, and the water collected, grew, and took shape until…

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

The roof shattered open and a great watery beast burst through before dispersing in a flood. Behind the water dragon stood a black haired shinobi with the mask of a Kiri hunter nin.

* * *

It was easier to be a tool. A tool does not need to think, he needs only to trust and to obey. But for Haku, those days were over. The Demon of the Mist was dead, and not even the two Demon Brothers remained. Haku was alone, and had to look after his own interests. He probably would have lived in peaceful obscurity until he realized he was being hunted. There was a group of ninja who saw profit in his corpse. They would kill him, dissect him, and sell the choice cuts to the highest bidder.

Zabuza-san would never forgive him if he died like that.

That was why, one rainy day, Haku went after them. He smashed his way into their outpost with a jutsu Zabuza-san taught him and faced his foes. Five to one, he was outnumbered, but the elements were on his side. Haku didn't have Zabuza-san's mist to help him, but the shinobi who dared to hunt him could not dodge the rain.

When they were disposed of, Haku noticed a young kunochi strapped down for operation. Judging by the peculiar state her eyes were in, Haku could tell she had a kekkei genkai, too. Picking up a thrown kunai, he saw the symbol she wore around her neck. _The symbol of the Leaf._ But she wasn't one of the ninja who killed his friend. She was just an innocent bystander, and he cut her free.

She sat up and managed to force her eyes into normality. "W-why'd you help me?" She shivered in the freezing rain.

"I had business with these men, not with you." She said nothing, but she nodded. "Tell me," he continued behind his mask. "That hitaiate marks you as a ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Do you have the heart that that requires?"

The girl said nothing, and Haku knew that he should probably have stopped then, but he didn't. He had to know.

"The heart of a ninja is one that can kill. I do not have that, and my friends are dead because of it. These men will live, but they will not walk for a long while." He wrapped her hands around the handle of his knife. "But if you have the heart to kill, they will be awake within the hour."

* * *

a/n Is it just me, or are my chapters getting longer? Anyway, I was hoping to get this done earlier, but then we went hiking in the Rockies and then I started college, but anyway. I know that Haku didn't use the water dragon thingy in the anime, but I think it said Zabuza taught him all of his techniques, and Zabuza knew that water dragon thingy, so I'm thinking that Haku just preferred his Hyoton jutsu, but after Zabuza dies, Haku tries to be both of them. Or something. Oh yeah, if you're curious what Kimimaro's art looks like, google church of bones. I saw a documentary on it once, and it's not the sort of thing that can be forgotten. Thanks for the reviews and all the positive feedback. They make me feel like I'm better than other people. The quote at the beginning is by Caliban, and I was hoping that it would fit most with Haku, but I don't know how successful that was. I'm deriving Kimimaro's interest in names from the way he analized Lee's and Gaara's in the anime. And the thing about Kimimaro being able to sense death, that's made up entirely, but I think it matches what has been said about his clan. I got the idea of people taking each other's eyes from King Lear by Shakespeare, which I like because it had more insanity than romance. 


	6. The Tyger and the Lamb

Dance of the Hidden Leaves

Chapter Six

a/n I don't own Naruto. I may have mentioned that before.

When the stars threw down their spears,  
And watered heaven with their tears,  
Did he smile his work to see?  
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

_Tyger_-Blake

"You know, this Haku person makes a pretty crummy villain."

They were walking down the path to Shoutaku, the town where Haku supposedly was hiding. All four of them. It wasn't raining as hard as it used to be, but the ground was still muddy. It made a _gluk chook_ sound whenever Naruto stepped in it. He liked that sound; it distracted him from how they almost lost a teammate and barely missed their target.

"Yes," said Kabuto, carefully studying a card (as if he hadn't memorized everything on that thing already). "He is an enigma, isn't he? The usual shinobi of his level would have killed those kekkei nin if he had a quarrel with them, and, since he already had a conflict with shinobi from our village in the past, Hinata too. Shinobi like him fall under one of three categories."

"Number one: he's a pacifist," Kabuto listed, holding up one finger. "Haku is morally opposed to taking another's life, and has thus developed a practical, non-lethal fighting style. However, people like this don't usually become shinobi and those that do tend to quit young. Haku, on the other hand, has joined a group of missing nins known for being anything but pacifists. Momochi Zabuza, the leader for example, went on a spontaneous killing spree as a child and slaughtered all his senior classmates at the Kiri ninja academy."

"Number two: he's arrogantly careless. "While he could have killed those men, he wanted to show that he could defeat them without killing them, which is much more difficult and, therefore, much more impressive. Conversely, Haku has been fleeing from hunter nin for years, and you don't last that long being careless. Haku should be more careful now than ever because he doesn't have S class missing nin like Zabuza to protect him."

"So what's number three?" Naruto asked.

"Something else," Kabuto laughed. "If he's not one of the first two, then we won't find out until we find him."

* * *

So. They were still going after him. Haku had just saved her life, or at least saved her from a lifetime of blindness (and what good was she without her eyes? What _was_ she without the Byukagan?), and he was still her enemy. Of course, Hinata couldn't have expected her team to abandon a mission just like that. Right now, they were representing their entire village, and they couldn't back down for anything. She was a fool to think otherwise. 

_The heart of a ninja is one that can kill,_ Haku had said. _If you have the heart to kill…_ She didn't. She failed Haku's challenge of the shinobi's heart, and didn't kill those men who captured her. And yet…it seemed like they were dead already.

But they weren't. They only looked that way. Hinata always figured that anything that looked real enough to fool the Byukagan was close enough to matter. And the Byukagan saw all of it, the men lying stiffly in the rain with shards of ice sticking out of them. Even when she closed her eyes, she could still see them; she could see the swirling blue circulation of their chakra halted. Because try as she might, her Byukagan was activated by that weird drug, and she couldn't turn it off.

And nothing was hidden from the Byukagan.

Sometimes she hated those eyes of hers.

When her team finally arrived, she was outside waiting for them. Kabuto-sensei purged her of the drug that forced her Byukagan, and Naruto was entirely engrossed with her story of being rescued by a masked stranger. He was, at least, until Kabuto determined the masked stranger to be their target, Haku. Their characteristically benevolent sensei then revived the sprawled out kekkei nin and began an interrogation to see how much they knew about the man his team was sent to capture.

But Hinata didn't have to watch this time. She deactivated her Byukagan and closed her eyes. If only her ears were so obedient.

* * *

Neither Naruto nor Hinata had ever witnessed an interrogation before. The panicked terror they expressed was a dead giveaway. Naruto didn't live the sheltered life she did, but then again Kabuto supposed the only experience Naruto ever had with the ninja way was limited to the heavily romanticized versions found in cheep manga and low budget tv shows, and Naruto wasn't even fully aware that interrogations could be necessary.

Sooner or later, that kid would have to face reality, and reality wasn't something he was talented at dealing with. Denial only worked for so long, and Naruto was not the most stable individual.

Kabuto wasn't thinking about the demon. Many people overemphasized the presence of the fox inside of him, but those people suffered from paranoia, mob mentality, and righteous fury. Kabuto tried to avoid that sort of mindset whenever possible. Naruto's problem was something like this: he had no family, a few desperate, flimsy friendships, and the only thing that supported him through the brutality of Konoha's hypocrisy was a dream—a dream that involved a whole lot more than he could ever imagine. If he were to give up on that dream, or if that dream should fail him, things could get…interesting.

But then again, Kabuto wasn't sure he wanted interesting, especially if it came in the form of demonic retribution.

Kimimaro was also an interesting person. When they were ambushed earlier, he killed one of the attackers without a second thought. Either he had killed before or he had some serious problems. He didn't seem troubled, just reserved, thoughtful, and blindly obedient. If Kabuto told him to jump off a cliff, he probably would without question. He also would probably survive, but that wasn't the point.

Like Naruto, Kimimaro had few friends and no family. Unlike Naruto, he had no great ambition that he shouted to the heavens on a daily basis. He had one, of course, some dream that pushed him forward. Kabuto knew of a few shinobi who didn't have some dream to drive them forward. Kakashi's student who liked shogi came to mind. That kind of shinobi tended to complain.

Kabuto wished he knew more about the Kaguya clan. He knew that they were one of many barbaric clans in the Country of Water, and that Kimimaro would have been familiar with death, even if he hadn't caused it before. The Kaguya were unusually strong and fast, and it took a lot to take one down, but for them, someone with as much skill over the Shikatsumyaku as Kimimaro would be beyond rare. An army of full-grown Kimimaros...it would take a lot more than the Hidden Mist Village to take out something like that.

And then there was Hinata. For some reason she always came last. She had the misfortune of having a genjutsu body type while inheriting a taijutsu fighting style. She was confident in the skills of her teammates, but a life under the absurd standards of Konoha's most powerful clan made her selfconscious about her own substantial abilities.

Ultimately, she played to her weaknesses, not her strengths. Depression, insecurity...if all else failed, he could always recommend prescription medicine. He had that kind of authority. But that wasn't what she needed. She needed to be asked to do something that she was good at, something that no one on her team could do as well as her. That and forget about the Hyuuga for a while.

Kabuto looked around him. There were a lot of trees, and they were almost to Shoutaku where Haku might be hiding out. "Alright, team," he announced. "We have a three part mission. First, we find Haku. Second, we capture him. Third, we deliver him to the Mist. In order to fulfill the second part, we have to defeat him without killing him or letting him escape. As you are now, you won't be able to handle that, so before you start searching for him, there is a training ordeal you must complete."

* * *

He charged through the mud and soggy leaves, hurled himself at the tree and ran upward. It was a chakra manipulation exercise; mold chakra into your feet and walk vertically. Naruto was pretty sure he molded chakra into his feet, they felt tingly which should be a good sign, but after a few steps he lost hold of the bark and fell flat on his back.

He lay there in the muck for a moment, trying to figure things out. There was probably some trick to this, something that he wasn't doing right, but he was doing it just like Doctor Specs showed him, except that Naruto's tree was apparently feeling spiteful. Ivory, on the other hand, was performing predictably magnificently. He was already getting halfway up his tree consistently, but Naruto so far had accomplished nothing besides come up with creative nicknames for his teammates.

And get covered in mud. Naruto was pretty good at that.

Maybe he could ask Ivory for a few pointers. Naruto looked up at his teammate, the one who never slipped up, never froze, and _never_ made it look difficult. Kimimaro could be pretty irritating like that.

No, Ivory didn't want to be bothered. But their other teammate left a while back to train on her own in the woods. Naruto got up and decided to check on Angel Eyes to see how she was doing.

* * *

She wasn't up there long, just five seconds or so, but she could feel it. She could feel the chakra pooling in her feet, scorching, trying to twist her bones out of place. By the seventh second hanging upside-down by a solitary branch, her legs were cramping up, her whole body was trembling, and she knew something was about to give.

After ten seconds she relaxed and fell the eight or so feet to the ground. Hinata landed with cat-like grace feet first, and collapsed with cat-like stamina, panting for air in the mud.

She looked horribly pathetic, wallowing there like a pig, but no one was there to see her, so it didn't matter. There wasn't much point of keeping up appearances without anyone there. Though if Naruto-kun came by with her like this, she'd probably have to die. Not that he would. He was busy taking another step closer to his dream. She could imagine he voice right now. _After I master this tree climbing exercise, becoming Hokage will be easy!_ She smiled, though she was more than a little envious of his outlook. He probably wasn't doing much better than she was, but he never doubted himself no matter how hard it got.

_Do it like Naruto-kun_, she told herself. Her legs were still weak, but she got up gently, scrambled to the lowest branch, and started again. Hinata knew immediately that she wasn't going to last the full ten seconds; she barely started and her legs were already trembling. It didn't help that she kept on seeing her cousin's face, smirking disdainfully at her weakness, or Otou-san's blatant disappointment. She opened her eyes and looking upward at the ground, saw another face right beneath her.

Naruto-kun's, grinning broadly up at her.

Her heart jumped, as did the rest of her. Then she remembered she was upside-down.

* * *

Considering how big the forest was, it didn't take Naruto that long to find her. Maybe it was just luck. Or maybe it was chance. He was about to say hi, but where was the style in that? And besides, he knew she was there, but she for once was unaware. That had never happened before. Angel Eyes could be quieter than Ivory, even when she wasn't trying, so this could be his only chance to sneak up on her.

Naruto didn't understand what she was doing when she climbed the tree the regular way. Doctor Specs made it clear that they were supposed to do it the fancy way. She walked out on a branch, swung underneath it, and hung there, suspended by chakra alone.

_Wow, that's incredible!_ Naruto thought as he tiptoed closer. She was really good at this. But not good enough to do it without trying. Hinata was giving it all she had and then some. When he was directly under her, he could beads of sweat forming on her forehead and her breathing came out ragged.

Somehow, he couldn't imagine Sakura working this hard.

Suddenly Hinata opened her eyes, looked at him, gave a yelp, and fell. Naruto recalled later that it would have looked a lot more heroic if she landed in his arms instead of on his head.

The next thing he knew, he was lying face down in the mud, and Hinata was screaming something hysterically. He was pretty sure he caught the words "Sumimasen" and "Naruto-kun," but not much else. He wiped the mud from his eyes and looked at her. She fell silent immediately and looked as pale as death, and he couldn't help but laugh. "Well, that was unexpected."

Hinata took a step back, looked away, and twiddled her fingers. She did that a lot.

"Anyway, Hinata, I was wondering if you could help me with this thing. See, with what Kabuto-sensei said about having the hots for the foot channel or something, it made no sense to me."

"Channeling your chakra to your feet and thus making an attractive force between yourself and the tree?" she whispered.

"Yes, exactly! So I was hoping that you could, maybe, I don't know, give me a few tips with this?"

"Ano, I'm not sure…I'm not really that good at this," she mumbled. She added brightly, "Why don't you ask Kimimaro-kun for help?"

"Oh, give it _up_, already. I saw everything. Seriously, Hinata, you're a pro at this, there's no hiding it. Kimimaro isn't nearly as good." _And there's no way I'm asking him for help._

She looked at him and made eye contact, if only for a moment. "I…I am?"

* * *

He wanted to watch, to see their strength and progress. But that would ruin the surprise. And Kabuto didn't want that.

Besides, he knew that they were doing well. They were his students after all. The only question was whether or not they would progress faster than Kakashi's team.

He didn't know when he first developed his rivalry with that man. Maybe it was because he knew perfectly well that he was just as qualified as the better known jounin. And Kabuto knew better than anyone not to show off. Not in his position at least.

But here...that was another story. Here, no one was watching them, no one could know but him whose students were better.

Two of Kakashi's students mastered the same basic tree climbing exercise, and two of Kakashi's students defeated Haku.

_Two of mine will face him too, Kakashi. And then we will see._

* * *

The tree was still wet with rain water that night. Haku could do it without the rain, but it saved him a lot of trouble this way. Didn't Zabuza-san always tell him to use the elements to his advantage? He went through the order of hand seals exactly as Zabuza-san taught him, for a purpose Zabuza-san never could have predicted. Neither of them thought that Haku would be around one day to dedicate a grave for the Demon of the Mist.

He shouldn't have died. Zabuza-san was supposed to return in glory to the Hidden Village of the Mist and take revenge on the self-absorbed, bloodthirsty little tyrant they served, not die on an unfinished bridge as some cheep mercenary for another self-absorbed, bloodthirsty little tyrant. Zabuza-san was supposed to live forever as a legend. Now, he was just a memory.

If anyone should have died, it should have been the sycophantic, tagalong street urchin that Zabuza-san picked up a few years ago.

Haku pressed his hand against the moist bark, and the water gave off a soft glow as it turned to ice. The ice spread up the branches and the leaves fell and shattered on the ground. The tree reflected a bit of the starlight, but by dawn it would be blinding when it caught the sun. A memorial fitting for Kiri's greatest.

Eventually some of the locals would stumble across it, and the people would blame bizarre weather patterns or fall for some superstitious explanation. That was the great thing about living in a civilian village. No one suspected anything.

* * *

It would be a lot easier for Kabuto if they had a face to go by. Instead, they had a name and a description so vague that Kabuto found five people in this village that could fill it on his first day. If they had Haku's face, on the other hand, then even if they couldn't find him, Kabuto could always select a corpse, disguise it as Haku's, and hand it over to the Mist.

But then again, the Mist probably didn't have his face either. Kabuto shook his head, dismissing the idea. They knew he had an advanced bloodline, and none of his corpses had the Hyoton.

Under the circumstances, he couldn't hunt him down, but he could lay a trap. Soon, Haku would notice Leaf shinobi wandering around, and that would worry him. He fought a squad of Leaf shinobi recently, and with the paranoia he developed over the years running from hunter nin, he'd be baited into action.

All the same, Kabuto planned on keeping his eyes open just in case something fell into his lap.

* * *

"Well Naruto, goodbye." Kimimaro turned to leave, but he could feel Naruto's eyes boring resentfully into his skull. Hinata mastered the technique on her first day, and Kimimaro finished after the second. Naruto had made…some progress, but he dreamed of becoming the greatest someday, and it irritated him to be last. But all the same, couldn't he just take satisfaction from the mutual growth of the team?

"Yeah, sure," Naruto responded. "But mark my words, by the end of the third day, I'll have this thing mastered."

Kimimaro surveyed the progress Naruto had made in the last two days. "I'm sure you will."

"I mean it! Just because this sort of thing doesn't come as easily to me as it does to you, don't think for a minute that I'm going to get left behind!"

"Easy? I've paid a price for my abilities, Naruto, just like everyone."

"Yeah, sure. Two whole days. Whoop-dee-doo, Kimimaro, you're an inspiration to us all."

"I've had a…very dull childhood before I came to Konoha. There was virtually nothing to do besides meditate and mold chakra for hours on end. Gradually I gained some decent chakra control." Kimimaro was surprised at how calm he sounded. But Naruto probably didn't want to hear about his eternity of solitude and darkness, and Kimimaro definitely didn't want to go into it.

Naruto shrugged neutrally and looked up at his tree. "I wonder how Sasuke managed to do it on his first try."

"Kabuto-sensei only said that one of them did. He never said it was Sasuke."

"He never said it wasn't!"

"For all we know, it might have been Shikamaru. In fact, it probably was. I can't imagine him putting forth any amount of sustained effort for several days."

Naruto laughed but said nothing as Kimimaro turned to leave again.

"You know, Naruto, by the end of tomorrow, we probably still won't be anywhere near finding him," he added over his shoulder with one of his rare smiles.

Naruto grinned ferally in response. "Right!"

* * *

Naruto wasn't resentful that everyone else finished the tree thing before he did. If it was harder for him, than that just meant that he'd be that much stronger when he was done. No, what bothered him was that now Ivory just finished, then have do it all by himself, _training_ by himself, _motivating_ himself, _pushing_ himself—and that didn't seem like much fun. More importantly, Naruto felt like he would get a lot further competing with someone of similar strength and drive to match his progress against.

"Ano, why don't you just compete against yourself?" Hinata suggested.

Angel Eyes was a lot smarter than Naruto gave her credit for. And why stop there? Naruto didn't have time to do things by halves. If one training buddy was good, then twenty would be, like, twenty times better!

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Twenty training buddies of similar strength and drive appeared. "Alright!" one of them shouted. "Let's see which one is the greatest Naruto here!"

"And here's your snow cone, Mogi-kun."

"Arigato, Shiro-san!"

Kabuto walked down the street, licking his snow cone cheerfully, giving off every impression of a carefree seven-year-old. He'd taken on the identity of one of a locals named (apparently) Mogi. People tend to distrust foreigners, but they tell kids anything. He just hoped he didn't run into Mogi's parents. That would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble, and after giving their son a name like Mogi, they seemed like sadists. Kabuto ran into the real Mogi and nothing happened. They just grinned at each other and kept on going.

Haku's kekkei genkai, the Hyoton, allowed him to control ice, so, in order to understand him, Kabuto decided to try to think cold. Thus, snow cone. _Suppose the Hyoton curses its user with chronic brain freeze._ That didn't seem likely, or particularly useful to know. But there were other effects of cold. Shivering, contracted blood vessels, dilated pupils, slow heart rate, lack of coordination, hallucinations, poor judgment, blueness of the lips and fingernails.

That last one might be useful, but Haku could hide it completely if he painted his fingernails or wore gloves. And in any event, if any of those symptoms applied to Haku's bloodline, it would probably only occur when the Hyoton was being actively used.

Kabuto finished his snow cone and got nothing. _Maybe I just need the right flavor._ "Ohayo gozaimasu, Kimimaro," he said when he saw his student.

Kimimaro stared at his seven-year-old form. "Kabuto-sensei?"

"Who does it look like?" he laughed. "Have you found anything?"

"Not about Haku, but…there's something I need to ask you about," Kimimaro said hesitantly. "Are you using us as bait?"

"Bait?" Kabuto repeated. "What makes you say that?"

"You set us out to look for Haku, but it is almost impossible to find him with the amount of information we have. Assuming he is in this village, all we have done is alert him of our presence. You have also set us on the same training regimen as the last team, and that team wiped out his comrades." _If someone did that to me, sent me back into solitude, I'd want revenge._ "It seems like you're using us to provoke him into action."

"You have a valid point," Kabuto admitted. "But let me ask you a question. If what you say is true, if I am using you to draw him out, would that matter?"

Kimimaro shook his head. "Not to me."

"Why not?"

"Because I know that even though I may not understand what you're doing, I know that you have the team's best interests at heart. And I understand that…sometimes casualties are unavoidable."

"Thank you, Kimimaro, I appreciate that, but you're wrong. There won't be any casualties. You say I have the team's best interests at heart, and that means keeping everyone alive, even at the expense of the mission."

* * *

That morning, Naruto had no idea how exhausting training buddies could be. He doubted that even Angel Eyes knew how well it would work. By the end of the day, Naruto was too tired to run on the ground, let alone up a tree. But he pushed himself to his limits. That's what really mattered.

And besides, he had the technique down. He just didn't have any energy left to do it. Naruto lay down and decided to take a break for a few minutes before he did it for real, before he proved to everyone that he always…kept a promise.

Without meaning to, he fell asleep, and he had a very weird dream.

* * *

Haku noticed a lot of Leaf nin wandering around the village recently. Well, that was part of living in the country of Fire, and Konoha genin were a lot better than Kiri hunter nin, but still it made him uncomfortable. They weren't the same Konoha genin he and Zabuza-san fought with, but anything relating to shinobi at this point was trouble.

They seemed to be looking for someone, and they weren't disguising that fact very well. _You're just being paranoid. They probably don't even know you exist. And if they did, would they care? You're a Kiri fugitive, not a Konoha one._ All the same, it couldn't hurt to find out what they were here for.

Every day a few of them went into the woods to do…something. The day was over, so whatever it was they were doing, they had probably finished for the day. If he followed their tracks, it might give him some clue.

He considered taking his mask. That mask had belonged to a Kiri hunter nin who had followed Zabuza-san back when he was still…the fight wasn't looking that good for them, but Haku got a lucky hit in, and suddenly the hunter nin didn't need his mask anymore. That mask kept his face out of the bingo books, and his face wasn't very good at killing. It gave too much away.

No, he decided finally. Right now, his face was the greatest mask of all. It disguised him as one of the five hundred oblivious inhabitants. Even if he ran into one of the Leaf nin, they wouldn't suspect anything. But he brought his senbon with him, just in case.

Haku didn't know what he'd expected to find. A secret hideout where they were interrogating prisoners perhaps, but all he found was a boy, dressed in vibrant orange, lying on the ground. Even in the darkness he could see the glimmer of the boy's hitaiate that marked him as a Konoha shinobi.

It was careless of him to have fallen asleep in the middle of the woods like this. This was probably what Zabuza-san meant when he mentioned Konoha's failing standards. Haku could slit his throat and he wouldn't even realize he was dead. But that wasn't the sort of thing he did. And besides, they might not even be enemies.

"Hey, kid, wake up," he said. Haku noticed some markings on the boy's face, three thin lines on either side. They looked like the whiskers of a cat. Distinctive of his clan, perhaps?

He woke up drowsily and tried to shake himself awake. When that didn't work, he shook himself awake again. He tried to stand up, changed his mind, and sat down again.

"What were you doing here?" Haku asked with the air of a concerned stranger.

The Leaf nin's eyes focused on him with effort. "Oh, hey, Nee-chan. We've been training!"

_Nee-chan?_ "We? Are your friends still here?"

"No, they disappeared. Poof! The original is always better." He seemed very smug despite the fact that he wasn't making sense, and his wild and motions weren't helping. "Oh, by the way, I'm Naruto."

Haku decided that he must be suffering from chakra exhaustion. That would explain the apparent delirium, poor judgment, and it went with what he said about training. He knew there was something inherently wrong with what he was going to do, like gaining the trust of children to find the allegiance of their parents, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"That metal headband you're wearing, does that mean you're a ninja?" Haku asked innocently. He figured that a civilian wouldn't be familiar with the terminology.

"Oh, you noticed?" he squealed with pride. "Yep, I'm a real ninja. And I've been training here to become an even better ninja!"

"I've seen a few others wandering around the village. What are you here for, anyway?"

"Well, don't tell anyone, we don't want anyone to panic, but we think there's a missing nin hiding in your village," Naruto whispered covertly.

"What does he look like?"

"See, that's the thing. No one knows. He always wears a white mask, so no one's ever seen his face, but supposedly he's really strong.

"And you're training to be able to defeat this person?"

"Partially. But mostly because getting stronger is the only way I'll achieve my dream. Someday, I'm going to become Hokage!"

Of course. A dreamer. All children dream of becoming something great. _But when you find out what that dream really means, when it's made of clay instead of cloud, will you still want it?_

"And besides, one of these days, my friends are going to need my help, and I'm not going to let them down."

_That_ mindset was a lot less universal, but it was something Haku could relate to. At least, at one point he could. "Do you know the secret of gaining true strength?" Haku asked.

He shook his head.

"Love," Haku said, gazing off into the darkness. If Naruto thought that sounded silly, that was his problem. "When you love someone so much that you'd be willing to do anything to protect him, when you're willing to die for him because you know life isn't the same without him—that is when you become truly strong."

Naruto said nothing, and then nodded slowly.

_But after he's gone, you're on your own. And now that your team is hunting me, Naruto-kun, then that makes us enemies until I leave._

"Close you're eyes, Naruto-kun," he said suddenly. "There's something I want to give you."

He did, grinning excitedly and trusting completely. Haku couldn't help but smile at how trusting he was as he took out a handful of senbon.

"By the way," the missing nin added, "I'm a guy.

* * *

Kimimaro ran like clockwork. He always was on schedule, never late, and almost never even in a hurry. He was, in short, dependable.

Naruto was something else entirely. He had a reputation as the number one unpredictable ninja in Konoha, and that was a reputation he deserved. All the same, he should have gotten back by now.

With her Byukagan, Hinata could see Kimimaro-kun, and not even Kabuto-sensei could hide behind one of his many disguises. But Naruto-kun was still nowhere to be seen.

_Relax_, she told herself. _Let it go. He's probably just up late training. It's not like he's been ambushed, killed, and left for you to find his bloody carcass in the morning impaled on a tree or anything._

Hinata got up and set off toward the forest. He'd be back. He just decided to stay up a little late training. He was fine. But just in case, it wouldn't hurt to check.

It was night, but she didn't need her Byukagan to see as she trudged down the familiar path. It wasn't the least bit cloudy and the moon was exceptionally bright. Hinata wished she took more time with the tree climbing exercise, although it did feel good to be the first at something. But all the same, if she had a choice between having Naruto-kun watch her in admiration or hunting down someone who saved her life, she'd choose the first one.

She activated her kekkei genkai when she reached the woods. It was a big forest, and it could take her all night to find him otherwise.

And she found him. He was lying on his back, mouth open, eyes wide and staring up into the nothingness of heaven. Long, thin needles stuck out of his neck, shoulders, arms, and Hinata didn't have to put her fingers to his still-warm throat to know that he had no pulse.

She couldn't help him. She could never help anyone. Hinata turned and did the one thing she could do, could ever do. She ran.

* * *

Kabuto's plan wasn't working. At least not as he'd hoped. If Haku had left town, the mission would only be slightly more difficult than it already was. So far, Kabuto had cards on about twenty people in Shoutaku who matched his description. Long, straight, black hair wasn't all that rare, and neither was Haku's height.

Not that it would be such a bad thing if they never found him. Haku was not an imminent threat to anyone; capturing him was just a vanity quest. A vanity quest for a leader of another village. The Hokage, after all, never used his power an authority for his own desires, he let other people use his power and authority for their desires. Momochi Zabuza tried to kill the Mizukage, and so Zabuza had to die, with his friends, his family, his underlings, his childhood buddies, his pet lizard, everyone. If he could convince the Hokage to harbor Haku instead, the Mizukage's next vanity quest could very well be a war with Konoha. Which could be very interesting.

Heedless of the glass, Hinata suddenly jumped into his room through the window. She had a crazed, frightened look in her eyes and her face was wet with tears. "I do have a door, you know," Kabuto didn't say. "Hinata, you look terrible," also didn't seem appropriate.

"Hinata, are you okay? What happened?"

She opened her mouth inarticulately and managed to choke out the sob, "Naruto's dead!"

"What? Are you sure?" Kabuto looked at the sky. It wasn't burning, which was a good sign. He doubted that both Naruto and his demon prisoner would go down quietly.

"I-I don't know, that's what he looked like, but maybe it's just like with the Kekkei nin."

"Where is he?"

"In the forest where he was training. I think—"

"Find Kimimaro and bring him there. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Naruto woke up with a scream. He saw his sensei's face looking down at him, which was much different from the last thing he was looking at.

"Hello, Naruto. I'm glad to see you're alive again."

Naruto tried to get up and couldn't. "Uh, Kabuto-sensei? I can't feel anything. Is that a good thing?"

"For now. I'm kind of low on painkillers at the moment, you'll be able to feel the needle holes in you as soon as I'm done repairing your damaged nerves."

Naruto didn't understand what Kabuto was talking about, but he figured that if he asked him to explain, he'd tell him a lot of other stuff he wouldn't understand. Naruto looked over and saw Ivory and Angel Eyes sitting by a small fire. Hinata looked away immediately as she always did and Kimimaro gave him a piercing stare. Naruto wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but he was certain it meant something.

"Ow!" he said. "Hey, I can feel my arms again! Excellent!" He got up and waved them around enthusiastically. "What happened to me?"

"Actually, Naruto," his sensei said, "we were hoping you could tell us. You were attacked, and judging by your injuries, it looks like Haku did it."

"Haku? Well, let me see. I was training, then I fell asleep, then a pretty girl woke me up and started talking to me, and she said—OH, SICK!"

"What?"

"…nothing. Just a weird dream I had. Anyway, then I woke up, and I saw this _guy,_ and that must have been Haku!"

"Yes. Haku hit you in a few pressure points and put you in a—very convincing—deathlike state. He also paralyzed your arms, assuming that he didn't need to kill you when he could just permanently disable you," Kabuto explained. "Did you see his face? Can you recognize him?"

"Oh yeah, that's not the sort of face you forget."

"Great," said Kabuto, handing him a bunch of cards. "Tell me if you see him."

Naruto looked through the cards. They each had a picture of someone with long, black hair. Then he saw the one he was looking for. The picture of the person who stopped to talk with him, with dark brown, almost black, eyes. Deep, sad eyes. And yet, he'd just wanted information, and guessed that Naruto was an easy mark. And he was right.

"It's this one," he said at length, handing over the card.

_That sure shows me,_ thought Kabuto, looking at the profile of Shiro, who worked at that ice cream parlor. _And I thought it was Shinta who did acupuncture._ "Alright, team," he announced. "We have accomplished the first part of our mission. Haku has made the first move and revealed himself. Now we must capture him before we lose his trail again, and for that, we need a plan."

The four of them stood over the map that Kimimaro and Hinata had made. It was a three dimensional map out of Kimimaro's bones, and it displayed the structures and landscapes of the entire village of Shoutaku. They didn't have much time, but they did have some. After all, Naruto wasn't supposed to even wake up for a while.

"All right, here's the plan," Kabuto said. "Haku is a formidable opponent, but he specializes in water jutsu. Cut him off from sources of water, and he will fall. So, Kimimaro, you and Naruto attack him in his room here, get him outside as fast as you can, and as long as he only has taijutsu, you should be able to defeat him. That means you have to keep him away from this river," he picked up a humerus, "this pond," a kneecap, "and indoor plumbing. Also, he probably has some tricks up his sleeve, so we will too. Hinata, he already met you and will expect you, so we are staying behind for back up if things don't work out. Don't be careless, and we'll have him before morning."

* * *

_It stung._

_Ka-san always liked beautiful things. She always liked him. So when Haku showed her the shimmering flying water, he thought it would make her happy. He thought it was beautiful. She didn't._

_She screamed and hit him. She never hit him before._

_It stung._

_Ka-san held him close and sobbed. She had never cried like that before. He had never been so scared._

_Maybe Tou-san could help. He'd understand. He always did. But no, this time Tou-san was sad too. There were others with him, and he had a knife. Ka-san went to him, and he held her close as he whispered their final farewell and stabbed her in the back. He trembled as he laid her down gently and sobbed. One of the others suggested something, but he shook his head._

"_They're my family," he said. "If they have to suffer, then so do I."_

_He closed his wife's eyes and turned to face his son._

* * *

Haku had never appreciated how strong his mother was. The strength to willing die for someone wasn't widely treasured among shinobi, but it was strength. Even as a child, Haku had the strength to survive, and he had his mother's blood. She wasn't killed. She let herself die.

Haku wasn't like that. No, he decided as he put on his slashed Kiri hitaiate. He was strong enough to survive, but he was weak enough, if necessary, to kill. _So come, shinobi of the Leaf,_ as he tied on the white mask around his head. _If you come tonight, I'm ready for you._

* * *

"Is this is the right room?"

"I think so," Kimimaro said, gripping his sword tightly.

"There's only one way to be positive." Naruto backed up and started to charge the door.

"No, wait!" he whispered. "It might be booby trapped."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." And he charged the door. He saw Haku silhouetted against the window, his masked face turning slightly to face his intruder. And Naruto felt a bucket of water fall on his head. "Ah! Oh. A bucket of water? That's it? That's your trap? That's just pathetic! I mean, even I—" The water that soaked his hair and clothes froze into an ice that somehow would not shatter. "Oh, you did _not_ just do that! That's it, Haku, as soon as I get out of here, I am going to rip out your—"

Kimimaro jumped over him and blocked a shower of senbon. "Would it have been so hard to first send in a shadow clone?" he asked before pressing the attack.

Haku dodged what he couldn't block and jumped out the window for more space to fight.

"When you're free, Naruto, come and join us," Kimimaro said before following him.

"Oh, yeah, and I'll just stay here and melt, shall I?"

* * *

He fought. He always fought, ever since his clan discovered his potential. He always fought and never understood why. When the Kaguya stripped him of his humanity and turned him into a weapon, he accepted that as his purpose and obeyed.

But that was then. Now he was a free man. Times were different now. Weren't they?

_What am I?_

A Shinobi, sure, but what was that? A weapon, a human, something in between? Something more?

_Focus!_ Now was not the time to ponder these things. If he relied wholly on instinct, he might accidentally kill someone. He had excellent instincts, but Haku was to be taken alive.

_Haku…_he saved one of his teammates. Helping a part of the team was the same as helping the whole, and in Konoha, the team was very important. He should be grateful, shouldn't he?

_FOCUS!_ Kimimaro realized that he was being led, that Haku had drawn him into an old building, and that building was rapidly being torn to bits. He realized that just in time to see the roof fall on him.

He managed to get out in time to avoid being buried alive, but in the unsettled cloud of dust, Kimimaro realized he had lost Haku. _Baka._ He paused for a moment in the still night, and heard the sound of running water. A faucet. _Baka!_ He cursed himself for letting his target get away, and twice over for letting him get near water. Kabuto-sensei had specifically instructed him not to allow that to happen. He had to hurry.

Haku stood on a sink in a stranger's house. Water fell and rose, collecting, suspended in midair in front of him. He had no time for something subtle, only for something direct. Sword in hand, he charged.

"Shimo Tama no Jutsu!" Haku shouted with a one handed hand seal. _So you really do need only one hand,_ Kimimaro thought. Sasuke said something to that effect. The water glimmered and surrounded him in a spiraling, icy sphere. Kimimaro's sword connected, but the current tore it from his grasp.

Kimimaro sprouted a spear from his palm. That too he plunged into Haku's defense, and this was a weapon he couldn't let go of. His bone grew longer, thicker, stronger, and even protruded out of his forearm. Haku took his water and ran.

Kimimaro stopped to turn off the water before following, and noticed that his spear was coated in ice.

* * *

Naruto twisted his entire body and slammed a frozen limb on the floor. It felt like the entire building shook, but the ice didn't chip. If he could just get his hands together, he could get some kage bunshin, but what could you do with twelve half frozen Narutos that you couldn't do with one?

_Well, you could always use them as fodder, _he thought as the door opened and a large, angry looking man stepped in.

"You had better have a darn good reason for being here," he growled.

"Uh, yes," Naruto assured him. "I have a very good reason for being here. Um, what's yours?"

"Me? I was sleeping, and I got woken up by someone rampaging around in here trying to wake the dead. And I ask you again, _what_ are you doing?"

"Can you keep a secret?" Naruto stalled.

"Yes," the stranger growled. "If I dump your corpse in the river, I won't tell a soul."

"Ha ha. Ha ha. Ahem. Well you see, ano, Haku's birthday is coming up, and—"

"Haku?"

"Shiro, sorry, all his friends call him Haku. Anyway, my friend, Kimimaro was out distracting him so I could, uh, oh screw it." Naruto hopped up as best he could and slammed his arm into the man's jaw, knocking him out cold, no pun intended. But even better, Naruto felt—or heard, rather, his arm was numb so he couldn't feel anything—he heard the ice shatter. "I'm glad we had this talk, old man," Naruto said. "It was very satisfying."

* * *

When Kimimaro caught up with Haku, he was outnumbered. Haku had no water, but he'd made some sort of bunshin. A kage bunshin, perhaps, like Naruto always made? Or maybe he used his water as a base? Kimimaro wasn't familiar with a mizu bunshin, but there was no reason why it couldn't work. In any case, clones generally dissolve when hit. The real thing bleeds.

"Yanagi no Mai!"

He lunged at the slower of the two Hakus and managed to knick the missing nin's shoulder, barely, but enough. The mizu bunshin lost its form, but it took another. Kimimaro had a feeling that behind him, the real Haku was performing another one handed seal.

_Oh crap!_ The puddle rose up and showered him with frozen needles. If he didn't form a layer of bone under his skin, he would have…been just fine. Looking at the shards of ice that covered him, he realized that none of them were pointed at his vitals.

Even in the darkness, he saw Haku's eyes widen as he stood up, apparently unharmed. His subcutaneous shield was supposed to be his trump card, something that Haku wasn't supposed to find out about until after he was too weak to keep fighting.

"That was unexpected," Haku whispered.

"Yes," he agreed. "You didn't strike me as the sort of person to toy around in a fight."

Haku's eyes narrowed. "I'm not a shinobi," he hissed. Then he smiled. "I don't have to kill anymore."

* * *

"I found you!" shouted Naruto, posing heroically from the rooftops. "I was starting to get worried that you'd finish this without me!"

Haku didn't move and Kimimaro glanced at Naruto and muttered something he didn't hear.

"Alright, Kimimaro, take a break! I'll handle things from here."

"No," his teammate responded firmly. "Secure the perimeter. I can defeat him on my own, but I don't have enough hands to hold water. You do."

"I don't really understand what you're saying," said Naruto in the cheerful, benevolent sort of voice he used when he was starting to get ticked off, "but I'm pretty sure you're not my sensei and I'm definitely sure I didn't come all this way to sit back and watch."

"Naruto, I know how to defeat this guy. We can win just as long as he doesn't—"

Haku gathered up the water that had soaked into the ground. "Kiri Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"—do that."

One Haku went one way, the other went another.

"Alright, Naruto, if you think you can handle him, you take that one, I'll take the other one." Kimimaro started after the more river bound of the two before calling over his shoulder, "And whatever you do, don't let him near water!"

_If I didn't know better, I'd say you're underestimating me,_ Naruto thought. "Don't worry about me!" he shouted back. "I'll take him out before you know it!"

* * *

Freedom must be a very insubstantial thing, Kimimaro decided, for him to be so uncertain about its possession. The cage…he left that behind years ago, but the unquestioning obedience remained. Under any other circumstances, he and Haku might have been friends, but he was ordered to take him captive. He was ordered, and so he would obey.

Haku moved unusually slowly. Was he exhausted or just overly cautious?

Although a captive of the Kaguya clan, he still fought willingly for them whenever he was needed. Why was that? Was he just so thrilled with bloodshed that he'd kill anyone, just to see them spill out at his feet? No, he never killed for himself. He only killed for others. They treated him like a useful weapon, a caged beast to be unleashed to secure their reputation, but he never harmed another Kaguya until Amaru asked him to.

Haku tossed a few of this remaining senbon at him to slow him down. Kimimaro didn't even bother to dodge, it stung less than a mosquito bite.

The funny thing was, every night after a raid, Kimimaro knew what fate the clan held for him, but he always came back. They didn't even need to lock him up. If they asked to stay in his cell, he would have. If they told him not to move he wouldn't have. If they told him not to breathe…and he betrayed them as soon as someone asked him to.

Haku tried to lose him through a few alleys, but he wasn't going to get away. Kimimaro was going to catch him…because Kabuto-sensei asked him to. That was his…

Purpose! That was it! That was why! He obeyed, not because he was weak, but because he wanted to be part of something great. The lifetime of a man was long, but not that long. Shorter still was the life of a Kaguya warrior, or, better yet, a Konoha shinobi, but to be part of the defense of the greatest hidden village in the entire world, to be part of the life of something that can last for generations…a dream like that could rouse the dead.

But Haku…if Konoha was so great, could someone like him be a threat? Kimimaro finally managed to head him off. "Haku," he spoke through the night. "I do not know what threat you might pose to my home, nor why you are my enemy. But I do know that I don't understand the meaning of all things." He pulled a long white blade and stepped into the stance of the only perfect dance. "And I don't need to."

_I just need to trust and obey._ That was all. He finally understood, and for the first time in a long time, his heart was steady.

"Tsubaki no Mai!"

* * *

"Kimimaro took out the mizu bunshin," Hinata told Kabuto, looking through her Byukagan.

"That's to be expected," her sensei replied without looking up from his cards. He hadn't looked up from them the entire fight. He just made the random note on the profiles of Naruto, Kimimaro, and Haku as Hinata related the events.

That was her new purpose for the team. After a short stint as a kunochi, then a hostage, and finally as a missing nin hunter, she had been demoted to news reporter. Not that she could blame Kabuto-sensei for giving her that role. So far, the only thing she'd been any good at was being a hostage.

Maybe if she'd used her Byukagan and found Haku first…but Haku was the one who saved her from having her eyes pried out of her head, and she couldn't just turn around and use those eyes against him, could she? It was one of those many, many things that made her an inferior shinobi.

"Why am I so weak?" Hinata didn't realize she said that out loud until Kabuto answered her.

"You're not. What makes you think you are?"

"Oh, nothing! Nothing, just—forget I said anything," she said, forcing herself to smile.

"I'll forget what you said after you tell me why you think you're weak," he said sternly.

Hinata squirmed a little and then gave in. As usual. "Well, I can't fight as well as Naruto-kun and Kimimaro-kun can, I'm always getting in the way, and I'm just no good at this! I'm just no good…"

"Well that's funny, Hinata, because you've never fought either of your teammates, your chakra manipulation is superb, and I have a rather impressive list of all the times you've saved everyone's life."

She said nothing.

"Are you still upset about the time you were captured a few days ago?"

She nodded.

"Get over it," he advised her without sympathy. "You were unfortunate enough to run into a group of people far above your level. That sort of thing happens to everyone at one point or another. With me, I got captured by bandits."

"Did your team rescue you?"

"I didn't have a team back then," he said amiably. We ran into another group of bandits, and I curled up in a fetal position until they all got done killing each other.

Hinata smiled a little. "Were you scared?"

"Absolutely."

"I was too," she admitted.

"You know, that's the funny thing about fear," he said softly. "If you're scared to die, you will anyway. If you're scared to live, if you're scared to try and to succeed, you won't."

* * *

"Uzimaki Naruto Slingshot: SUCCESS! YATTA!"

He rocketed through the air like a blazing meteor, landing lightly on the ground and rolling neatly into a pile of crates. Technically he was aiming to land directly on Haku, but he didn't mind drawing things out. It's more dramatic that way.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Haku asked.

"Would you CUT THAT OUT!" Naruto roared, scrambling to his feet. "It's hard enough to kick your butt without you being such a nice guy about it!"

"Sumimasen."

Naruto winced. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Oh, so that's what he meant," muttered Haku as he suddenly became surrounded. Naruto swore mentally to wipe that expression of polite amusement off his face.

"This ends now!"

"As you wish," Haku replied unenthusiastically. "But first, I understand what the Mist would want with me, but why would Konoha become involved?"

"Honestly, Haku, I don't know. I think the Mizukage hired us or something."

"Ah, yes," he nodded. "The Leaf always could be bought."

"I'm not so sure about that," Naruto growled, "but now it's personal."

"Personal?" Haku scoffed, trying not to laugh. "What did I do to make this personal?"

"Well _first,_ you seduced me into a coma, and _then_ you nearly gave me frostbite; you couldn't screw me any worse if you really were a girl!"

"I never said I was a girl. It's not my fault you were delusional."

The Narutos glared at the Mist shinobi, drew their weapons, and attacked. Haku threw a few senbon at them, made a hole in their attack, and jumped through it. Regardless of whether or not he could handle all those kage bunshin without any water-based ninjutsu, Haku just didn't have the time to stay and fight. But if he could reach the river, he could take on both this one and his bone-wielding friend.

Haku was faster than them, fortunately, and although he saw the occasional shadow clone flying overhead, screaming something about a slingshot, he soon left them behind and made it to the river. Almost.

A few new saplings and a handful of extra rocks turned into Narutos and attacked him. As one, the pressed their attack until the rest of their small army joined them.

"Give it up, Haku," one of them said, grinning evilly. "It's over."

Haku looked around grimly for a way out, but Naruto was right. It was over. Haku had been running, fighting, and pulling what little water he could out of the air all night, and he was exhausted. He took off his mask and looked at Naruto with his deep, sad eyes. "I suppose it doesn't matter that I saved her back then. That girl who was getting her eyes plucked out. She was on your team, wasn't she? But then again, shinobi never did value human life that much."

"That's not true!" Naruto shot back, seeming genuinely offended. "I don't know where you learned to be a ninja, but in Konoha, nothing is more important than the team! We were going to rescue her, you just…got there first."

_Only those who personally knew Kakashi's teammate really cared._ That was how Kakashi became a famous hero, Kabuto had told them. In Naruto's happy fantasy world, your friends lives are more important than anything, but he was starting to wonder how much those ideals matched with the rest of his village.

"If that is what you truly believe, Naruto-kun, then you are still green. There is a cycle inexperienced shinobi go through before they become the heartless assassins they are expected to be. Every one of them starts out with unlimited dreams and magnificent ideals, and then they are faced with compromise. They swore a hundred times that they would die for those they loved, but then they find out just how much they want to live. They know right from wrong, but your dreams seem so much closer when you can forget that now and then."

"The sad thing, Naruto-kun, is that it doesn't work. The cowards who let their friends die find out how much they want to live when it means a life of solitude, and those who lust for power lose the greatest power they could ever gain. I told you before, true strength comes by protecting those you love. That is because as a shinobi you are expected to risk your life, but do you have any idea what you can accomplish when you are willing to die?"

Naruto started to feel sick, just like when he saw his sensei casually, cheerfully torture a handful of prisoners. _Of course_ it was necessary, _of course_ it was in the best interest of the mission, but was Kabuto always so…good at it? And when he too became a skilled and experienced shinobi, would he also become so heartless?

"Arigato Gozaimasu, Naruto-kun," Haku whispered as he jumped over him. "You will become strong." And with that, he made his last sprint to the river. Naruto knew that it was his mission to capture this person, that this was his chance to show everyone what a skilled shinobi he was, but right now he didn't care.

"Ganbatte kudasai," he said.

Blind to anything else, Haku dove into the river and all the protection and security it offered. And then a sea monster rose out of the water and attacked him. A white haired sea monster grabbed him by the throat, and with his signature medical ninjutsu, Kabuto took him out himself.

* * *

a/n _Sorry it took so long to get this thing done. I was almost done, but then I lost my flash drive, and that led to a whole string of events that I really don't want to get into. As always, I appreciate the helpful, encouraging, motivational, constructive reviews you people take the time to leave. This is the first chapter I did with a betta, so if it seems like it flows better and makes more sense than the others, don't blame me, blame Racheakt. I didn't get to develop Kimimaro as much as I wanted to, I focused too much on Haku and Naruto, but everything will come together next chapter. I hope. And by the way, even though he lost, I have nothing but respect for Haku. Kabuto's team just managed to maintain the initiative and terrain advantage. _

_The quote at top was also quoted in the same way in _Firebringer_ by David Clement-Davies, the second best book I've ever read. He used the tiger lamb comparison with deers and wolves. I'm using it with Haku and Kimimaro. _

_I'm not sure whether or not I like the nicknames Naruto made up. Ivory is obvious, Angel Eyes is a reference to _The Good the Bad and the Ugly,_ a classic Western if you've haven't seen it, and I still can't say Doctor Specs without smiling, and it goes with Naruto's unrealistically heroic outlook, but it might cause trouble in the future. _

_Just to clarify, Naruto did use shadow clones to train faster, if accidentally. And the whole sea monster Kabuto thing at the end was wholly metaphorical. He didn't use a summon jutsu. I think that's all._


	7. The Menace of the Years

Dance of the Hidden Leaves

Chapter Seven

a/n You know what, I'm going to just forget the legalities of pseudo plagiarism. I own everything. You hear me? Everything!

Beyond this place of wrath and tears  
Looms but the horror of the shade  
And yet the menace of the years  
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.  
_Invictus-_Henley

Naruto's first mission was nothing more than a series of failure and humiliation. Every time he had the chance to prove his worth, he froze, screwed up, or downright betrayed his team. _So what are you, Naruto? A coward, a traitor, or just plain stupid?_ "Shut up," he whispered to himself.

Haku stirred behind him. After Doctor Specs finished with him, Haku couldn't mold enough chakra to hide behind a rock even if he wasn't tied up. All that remained was to cart him off to the Country of Water. And that's where Naruto came in. He finally found a task that he couldn't screw up no matter how hard he tried. While the rest of the team were busy scouting ahead, Naruto found his true calling…as a pack mule.

"You're awake," he noted, pulling the cart that Haku lay in up the stony path.

"What happened to me?" he asked drowsily.

"You got to the river, but Kabuto took you out," Naruto explained. "He's my sensei. He said something about disabling your chakra, so don't be surprised if you can't do anything." No one said anything for a moment. "And…I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For everything. For how things turned out. I can't help but feel partly responsible, but I'd let you go if it was just up to me." There was another uncomfortable silence. "Hey, look on the bright side," he added with forced cheer. "At least you're not dead. We were paid extra to take you alive, so whatever the Mizukage wants with you, he won't kill you."

"Wow. I was right when I said that you were green. The Mizukage only wants me alive because a live specimen is more useful than a dead one. I have associated myself with a man who tried to kill him, and so I must die. The only reason he doesn't want to kill me yet is to torture and dissect me for my kekkei genkai. For a shinobi, a human life is a statistic. But the opportunity for power, that just might make a legend. And that's what drives men to become shinobi. Beyond the comfort of having power over others, people want the glory, the prestige. But I don't mind. I don't know how I managed to cheat my fate, but I should have died a few weeks ago. With him."

"Who, that Momochi guy?" asked Naruto. "What's so great about him? Why'd you even join him in the first place?"

"Do you have a kekkei genkai, Naruto-kun?"

"Nope. Hinata does. Kimimaro does. I don't."

"Then you probably can't relate to this, but an advanced bloodline is a thing that attracts the fear and hatred from those around you, the gift you never wanted. The Country of Water was a land of perpetual civil war, and at the forefront of every army, there was someone with some terrible genetic power. By the time I was born, people saw the advanced bloodline as a thing of blood, and every man, woman, and child who bore it was a monster to be feared and slain."

_Something that attracts fear and hatred? _thought Naruto. _A gift you never wanted? A Monster? I think I can relate to that better than you think._

"When I was a child, I was happier than I have ever been since. I had a family that loved me, and I couldn't ask for more. Then, one day I discovered I had a strange power over water. I could pull it out of the stream without touching it, and it would sparkle like starlight suspended in midair. My mother who shared my bloodline and my curse, recognized what I was doing immediately. And so did my father."

"Yeah, but, he was…family, right?" asked Naruto. Not that he had much experience with family. "He wouldn't tell anyone, would he?"

"My father always believed in doing what he thought was right, even if it was hard. He knew that we were destined for terrible things, and so he killed my mother." Haku looked at the sky and felt like part of a cosmic joke. "Remember how I said that I'd cheated my fate and lived longer than I should have? Well, when Zabuza-san was cut down before my eyes, that was the second time it happened. The first was when in a moment of panic, I killed my father with his own tears."

"You can't blame yourself for that!" Naruto protested. "That was self defense. He had no right to hate you for something you were born with, and you did what you had to do to survive."

"How would you feel if you killed your father?"

"I wouldn't feel anything at all," Naruto said casually. "I haven't seen him my entire life, so if he's not dead already, he should be. Though he probably is. There was a demon that attacked Konoha twelve years ago, and it kind of killed a lot of people. That's probably what happened to my mom, too, I suppose." _Or maybe they just didn't want a demon child._

"I'm…sorry, Naruto-kun."

"Oh, don't mention it, Haku.

No one said anything for a moment, and then Haku realized something. "So that's why you want to become Hokage. You were always an orphan, a burden, but by becoming the leader of your village, all you know will depend on you. Your solitude drives you to excel. You have been denied a normal life, and so you seek glory. Is that correct?"

_Am I that obvious?_ "Pretty much. And I have to defeat a legend." Naruto glanced over his shoulder at Haku. "By the way, you've never told me your dream."

"I…don't have one."

"_What?_ Of course you have a dream! Everyone has a dream. That's what separates us from the animals!"

"Well, considering that after you hand me over to Kiri, I'll live about a month at most in captivity before I die, a dream seems rather superfluous at this point."

"I mean _before_ this."

"Before this?" Haku repeated dreamily. "Yes. A month ago, I had a dream. My dream was to help another man fulfill his dream. But when Zabuza-san died, my dream died with him."

"Zabuza? Why'd you want to help him? I mean, he's evil!"

"You've met him?" Haku asked, more amused than offended.

"Uh, no, but he killed people for money! How can you justify something like that?"

"I can't," Haku admitted. "I've never killed anyone for money. But after you deliver me to the Mizukage, I will die. And you will be paid."

"What—but no, that's—that's not the same!"

"How? Because while you will be paid for this, you're doing this to get closer to your dream and not just for money?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so."

"Because when Zabuza-san agreed to assassinate a brave old bridge builder for a greedy little leach, he too was fighting for his dream."

"And what dream was that?" Naruto asked, hoping that it was something petty and selfish, something that Naruto could still hate him for.

"Zabuza-san's dream? His dream was…"

* * *

_It was snowing, that bleak, grey night. As delicate as a dream, they floated down softly, gently, perfectly around him. Haku's feet were numb, but at least he couldn't feel them anymore. He stopped shivering a while ago, so either he must be getting used to the cold or he was freezing to death. _

"_See you soon, Ka-san," he whispered to himself. His mom wouldn't want him to give up hope so quickly, after all, it wasn't even a year since they were all together. But he was tired of being alone. He was tired of fighting off strays for bits of garbage, he was tired of the aching cold, he was tired of living in a world that didn't want him. _

_A passing jounin stopped to mock him. Haku tended to ignore people when they did that. Shinobi were cruel by nature, but he knew that he wasn't worth killing. And besides, they never really understood his pain. They always laughed that he was homeless, that he'd freeze to death, or, his personal favorite, he'd die unnoticed by history. As if that was what he cared about. Haku didn't care about being noticed, and everyone died eventually. But what really got to him was that—_

"_You will die unwanted by anyone."_

_Haku looked up at the man who spoke to him. The jounin's words were cold, but there was pain in his voice. And in his cold, heartless eyes, Haku could see despair._

"_Your eyes," Haku smiled. "Your eyes are just like mine."_

_The man's eyes softened, and Haku thought he could see—was it pity? Empathy? The man whispered behind his mask, "Do you want to be needed by someone?"_

* * *

"His dream was to become Kirikage."

* * *

Naruto didn't know what he was going to do when let go of the cart he was pulling. He wasn't the sort to think things through. He looked around to see if he could pick out Kabuto-sensei patrolling around. Naruto didn't know exactly what he would say, but that was the person he needed to talk to.

Kimimaro was the first to notice that he'd stopped, and came over. "Is something wrong, Naruto?"

"No, no, well, yes, actually there is."

Kimimaro said nothing.

"Do you think this is a good idea? What we're doing?"

Kimimaro continued to stare at him in impassive silence.

"You just can't make this easy on me, can you? Okay, here's the thing. Haku is not a threat. He's not evil, and he has already gone out of his way to help us before, but if we hand him over to the Mist, _he will die!"_

"We have our orders," Kimimaro said calmly. "We are expected to obey them."

"Yeah, well the orders suck!"

Kimimaro looked at him like he was a smear of mud on something priceless. "Deal with it."

"Alright, I will!" In a burst of fury, Naruto threw a punch at his teammate. Experience should have told him that it was futile. Kimimaro could dodge it gracefully, leaving Naruto stumbling off balance, or he could let the punch slam into a layer of bone that would leave Naruto's fist throbbing. That's what happened whenever they spared, but that's not what happened this time.

Kimimaro grabbed Naruto's wrist, stopping it dead. "You say you want to be Hokage, but you cannot expect to be able to give orders if you can't follow them yourself." He lifted Naruto up by his arm leaving his feet dangling above the ground. "Right now, though, you are a shinobi, and if you can't handle ending a life when necessary, find a different line of work."

"Naruto-kun—" their captive started.

"Shut-up, Haku!" Naruto yelled. "This doesn't concern you!" And it didn't. Not really. Kimimaro had been showing off, acting like he was so much better than everyone else since day one, and Naruto was sick of it. "What kind of Hokage would I be," he growled, "if I only did the right thing when it's convenient? And what about you? I saw you that day when the kekkei nin attacked us; you killed yours like it was nothing!" Naruto narrowed his eyes and choked out, "If you were ordered to kill me, too, would you hesitate at all?"

"What do you think?" he replied coldly.

"What kind of _monster_ are you?" Naruto exploded.

"What kind of monster are _you_?" Kimimaro countered. "There are people in Konoha who refer to you as such."

Neither said anything. They just glared at each other, Naruto with his unbridled ferocity and Kimimaro with his general apathy, until Kabuto interrupted them.

"Is there a problem, children?" He was right to call them children. They appeared rather immature for their standing as official shinobi. How long Kabuto had been watching them, however, he didn't say.

Kimimaro put Naruto down and both looked at their sensei. Hinata was there too, but she said nothing.

"Kabuto-sensei? This doesn't feel right. I think we should…abandon the mission."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses at that time, so if his face showed any sign of surprise or amusement, no one saw it. "That's quite a suggestion, Naruto," he said. "But you understand that I can't just quit a mission for no reason."

"Yeah, I know, but couldn't you, like, let Haku go and say he escaped or something? And besides, the Sandaime would understand. Haku won't hurt anyone, so why does the Mizukage want with him in the first place? He's just being vindictive, and he can be vindictive with his _own_ shinobi."

Kabuto shook his head and sighed. "Naruto, do you understand the purpose of this mission? Politically?"

"Yeah," he protested. "It's to, uh…what was it again?"

"Konoha can't handle another major war right now. The Sandaime is trying very hard to ease relations with Kiri, and this mission as an exchange of services is an excellent way to start. We are performing this mission for the Mizukage, not the Hokage, but if we complete it, it shows that we're reliable and capable. If we _do_ not complete it, it is an insult, and if we _can_ not complete it, it is a sign of weakness."

"Yeah, but—"

"Although, Naruto," Kabuto continued. "If you do not feel comfortable participating in the rest of the mission, you may leave. We can finish this without you."

Naruto noticed that everyone was watching him, and considered actually taking Kabuto up on his offer.

"But if you do," his sensei said, "You'll have to leave your hitaiate here."

"What?" He touched the metallic Leaf emblem on his forehead. When he first got it, it meant everything to him.

"Oh of course," Kabuto said. "Insubordination is a capital offence, you know. Not everyone is naturally talented or clever, but every shinobi of the Leaf is expected to be able to follow orders. So what will it be, Naruto? Are you going to stay with us, or are you going to quit?"

He wrapped his fingers around his hitaiate, as if to tear it off, but his hand trembled and he said finally, "I'm with you."

* * *

As Kimimaro pulled along the cart with Haku in it down the path toward the Land of Water, the thought kept on nagging him, _Was I here before?_

It was possible. When he left the Kaguya clan, Amaru sent him on _one_ of the roads from Water to Fire. Could it have been this one? Kimimaro couldn't remember. It didn't look familiar, but he came through a long time ago.

Maybe Haku knew which road went closest to his old clan. After Naruto's outburst, Kabuto-sensei relieved him of his cart-pulling duties and replaced him with Kimimaro.

"Haku," he said. "You are familiar with the Land of Water, are you not?"

"Not extremely," he admitted. "I became a fugitive about three years ago, and haven't been back since."

"Hm. That's about the same time I left."

"You're from the Land of Water?"

"I never considered myself so, but the Kaguya clan is within its borders," Kimimaro said. "Have you heard of them?"

"No," Haku confessed. "But there are a lot of scattered clans in that country."

"Yes," Kimimaro muttered. "A lot of obscure, insignificant clans. Do you think…"_Do you think they still exist?_ "…never mind."

Kimimaro trudged along for a while in silence until Haku broke it. "I'm sorry," he said with a smile. "I didn't mean to get your teammate to turn on you."

"It's nothing. Naruto's a good person, he just…"

"Values human life?" Haku suggested.

"There is a paradox in Konoha," Kimimaro explained. "The Leaf raises shinobi who must kill without hesitation, but also teaches them that life is precious. To enjoy or to even painlessly tolerate taking the life of others is extremely obscene, but it must be done anyway."

"How did the Kaguya clan deal with that problem?"

"My clan never had that problem. To excel in combat is a thing of glory. Death in battle is glory to the clan."

"Is that really how you felt, the first time you killed someone?" asked Haku darkly.

"My first kill was…overshadowed by other events," he replied vaguely.

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, my clan never had a problem with killing. They gloried in it. And they had a very straightforward battle strategy when they fought against other clans. Give it everything you got, hold nothing back, _nothing_ in reserve." He paused and smiled slightly. "Much like my teammate Naruto, come to think of it."

_Why do you want to know?_ Kimimaro thought suddenly. He was going into secrets of his life that he never told anyone, not even his own team. But Haku had only a short time before he died, and the dead keep secrets very well. _You're going to die!_ he realized. _Your time is almost up._ And if Kimimaro knew he faced death, the one thing he would want most would be to understand, to find meaning in this life if there was any to be found. Haku, unlike Kimimaro, erred on the side of mercy instead of caution and was driven by love instead of duty, but in that one aspect of their lives, they were one.

"And like you said," Kimimaro continued, "there are a lot of clans out there. Every last individual who could fight went on some genocidal raid, but in their absence, the rest of us were attacked. The Ketsueki clan, if I remember. That was my first experience with battle, and I still remember the gleeful and desperate screams and the smell of opened flesh. My first encounter with death, however, didn't come until I saw my own mother, literally ripped apart before my eyes. And then I lost it."

"At the time, I wanted only two things. The first was revenge. The second was oblivion. I pointed myself toward the worthless filth who violated my life, and sank into my instincts. The Kaguya have excellent instincts for battle, you know. Relax, let go, and immerse yourself in a peaceful dream. Somewhere in that dream, I discovered myself, and I was reborn."

Kimimaro lifted his arm toward the sky and out of it he sprouted bony spikes. "Shikotsumyaku. It is the kekkei genkai unique to my clan alone, but to manifest even this degree of control over it was known only in legends. When I became aware of myself again, I was drenched in fear as much as blood. There were corpses everywhere, and I had to ask myself, how many Ketsueki have I killed last night? How many Kaguya have I killed last night? Because in my trance, I couldn't remember what I had done. I knew I killed people, but other than that it was all just a red haze."

"Of course, everyone told me I was incredible, and when the warriors of our clan returned, they were thrilled at what they were told I could accomplish. The next time they went on a raid against another clan, they brought me with them. If you haven't heard of the Kaguya, then you probably haven't heard of the Ketsueki either. They're extinct."

"When the elders of the clan saw first hand what I could do, I became precious to them. I was a powerful weapon that could make the Kaguya feared throughout the land, to carve the clan into legend. Immediately they gave me the bloodred markings of the warrior caste, and, because I was the greatest treasure they had, they kept me under lock, securely in a safe of stone and shadow. From then until I made my exodus from the Kaguya, the only time I left my cage was when the clan brought me with them during an attack."

"But what about your family?" Haku asked. "Did you have anyone to look out for you, or were they, too, willing to give you up for the whole?"

"My family? Of course, my family did everything they could, but there was nothing they could do. My mother, as I told you, died before any of this happened, and my father was a prophet of doom. I was too young to remember any of this, but long ago, he said that the Kaguya's martial lifestyle would eventually destroy them, and for that he was exiled. He could still be alive today for all I know, but I doubt it. You don't live very long on your own. And then there was my brother."

"My brother…" Kimimaro paused to think how he could describe the one member of his family that was there. During the darkest hour of his life when he fought for his clan, Nii-san was the only one who fought for him. He also showed him how to fight with control, overcome his destructive instincts, use precision, finesse instead of ferocity.

"My brother was a fool. He could do everything besides fight, but for the Kaguya, fighting is everything. He could move with the inhuman grace of an eagle, but he had the murderous affinity of a sparrow. And yet, he had unquestioning faith in the power of the heart."

"_You can't treat him like that! He's not some trained beast that you can throw at your enemies, he's a human being!"_

"_I can. That child will grow to become the most powerful warrior the Kaguya has ever seen, and I will not allow you to keep him—keep all of us—from that destiny._

"He didn't believe in fighting, but he found his strength in other ways. He thought that if you fought to defend those you love, to protect that which is important to you, then that is all you need to achieve the impossible."

"_The albino will fight for us. He will make us the most terrible clan anyone has ever seen. And there is nothing you can do to stop it."_

"He tested this idea against an impossible enemy."

"_If that is the case, old man, then I have no choice. I hereby challenge you to the death for leadership of the clan Kaguya, and for the freedom of my brother."_

"He fought him, and he lost." _And he left me to face everything alone._

* * *

She was the first one to spy the river. It was the Namida River, if she remembered correctly. That river served as a border between the countries of Fire and Water. She couldn't see it yet, but there was a bridge at the end of the road where they were supposed to deliver Haku. Oddly enough, the river had a name, the waterfall right after the bridge had a name, Ikari or something, but the bridge was nameless. That made sense, she supposed. After all, in the Country of Fire, every forest had a name, so in the Country of Water they would probably name most of the rivers. Why they didn't name the bridge, too, she didn't understand.

_This is it, Hinata. If you're going to do something, do it now._ After they got to the bridge, the mission would be over, and she had done nothing significant for the operation whatsoever. But that wasn't all. She had a debt to pay to Haku for saving her life, and after this, she wouldn't get the chance to. _No wonder Kabuto-sensei doesn't trust you._

She tried to shake that thought from her. She knew she was no traitor. _Because Kabuto-sensei wouldn't let you._ When they first attacked Haku, Kabuto-sensei held her back. She thought that it was just because if she fought him, she would humiliate herself and get in the way, but the same thing happened when they had to cart Haku to the border. Naruto-kun pulled, Kimimaro-kun pulled, and Hinata served as lookout.

Hinata couldn't blame her sensei for that, either. Naruto-kun had been with Haku for less than an hour and he was ready to side with him even though he'd still be paralyzed if there wasn't a med nin on the team. Hinata wouldn't have lasted nearly as long condemning to death someone who saved her life, and Kabuto knew it. All the same, Hinata had always liked Kabuto-sensei from the start.

* * *

"_Ohayo gozaimasu, Hiashi-sama. May I speak with you?" Otou-san said nothing, but he must have nodded because the man continued. "As you know, your daughter, Hinata, has just graduated from the academy, and will begin performing missions as part of a four-man squad, and while unlikely, there is a chance that she may die."_

_Otou-san's words were cold, distracted, almost ignoring the man who was speaking to him. "I know."_

"'_I know?' That's it? Your daughter may or may not die, and you just 'know?'" Then he added something that Hiashi could construe as either an insult or a compliment. "You Hyuuga really are made of stone." _

"_That _child_ is defectively weak, an insult to the succession of the clan. Even her younger sister, Hanabi, would make a more suitable heir. Do what you will with her, Kabuto. I have no use for her."_

_Her heart sank from where she was listening, but that man—Kabuto, he was called—he seemed politely oblivious to the venom in her father's words. "Well, considering the fantastic standards of the Hyuuga clan," he said, "defectively weak should fit in just fine with the rest of us mortals."_

_It wasn't until much later that she realized that he, like her father, knew she was eavesdropping._

* * *

"They're late," said Kabuto, looking at his watch with disappointment. They were waiting at the bridge for the patrolling Kiri nin. "Dang. I've lost a bet."

"You gamble?" Kimimaro asked.

"Oddly enough, all med nin gamble," he explained. "About thirty, forty years ago, one of the greatest med nin to use medical ninjutsu aggressively started hitting the slots, and, like lemmings, the rest of us follow her example."

Hinata flashed her Byukagan. "They're not late. I can see them hiding about ten meters beyond the river, deciding what to do."

"Hey, Mist!" Naruto shouted. "We know you're there! Hurry up already, and get your worthless butts over here so we can—"

"Naruto!" Kabuto cautioned.

"What?"

"Shut-up."

A team of Mist shinobi emerged from hiding and stopped at the other side of the bridge. "Well," said one, apparently the leader, "you've convinced us that you're not a threat. What do you want?"

There were four of them. The one who spoke was the oldest, in his twenties it looked to Hinata, and he wore his hitaiate on his sleeve. He spoke with amusement and contempt toward the Leaf shinobi.

Behind him, furthest to the left, stood a boy in his early teens with long, black hair. He'd be tall if he stood up straight, but he slouched heavily. His wore a mask of white gauze over his nose and mouth to muffle his breathing, goggles over his eyes, and Hinata thought he had something on his arm underneath his thick, dark green sleeves.

In the middle there was a plain looking kunochi with straight brown hair. She had a large fuma shurikan on her back and a bag of other weapons at her side. White tape covered her hands and forearms, and she was the only one of the three who seemed focused on what was happening, yellow eyes scanning Hinata and her teammates.

The last one, the shortest of the three, looked the most unsettling by far, despite his childlike appearance. He had a blue eye and a brown one, and they didn't seem to move at the same time. The kid peered down over the precipice at the river, but when he noticed Hinata looking at him, he looked up at her and smiled widely. He had filed, pointed teeth.

"We have a C ranked missing nin your village wanted us to capture," Kabuto said officially. "Haku, previously associated with the late Momochi Zabuza." He picked up Haku, deposited him in the middle of the bridge, and walked back. The bridge was made of rope and wood, but it seemed sturdy enough.

The leader of the Kiri team knelt down by Haku's limp form and slipped something into his hands. "He's testing for Haku's bloodline," Kabuto explained quietly. "If Haku tests positive for wind and water chakra, than that's the one they want.

The Kiri nin seemed satisfied. He lifted up Haku and tossed him back to the rest of his team.

"If that is all then we'll be leaving," Kabuto said.

"It is not," he growled from the bridge. "You have delivered to us the fugitive as agreed. But that boy with the red markings on his face. He is a Kaguya, is he not?"

Kabuto glanced at the student in question but said nothing. "I am," Kimimaro said.

The kunochi and the boy with mismatched eyes looked at him, but their sensei didn't break eye contact with Kabuto. "We have specific orders concerning any…survivors. The rest of your team may leave, but the Kaguya we must take into custody."

Naruto whispered something coldly to Kimimaro. "Still so big on taking orders?" Kimimaro didn't respond.

"Suppose I don't want to hand over one of my own?" Kabuto replied.

"Then some of us are going to die. And I know how Konoha fights their battles; drown their enemies with their own blood. If you want to have a few casualties over this, then by all means, I'm up for it, but you'll need a lot more fodder than the two midgets you've got with you."

Naruto glanced at Hinata and flashed a mischievous grin that said, _I've got an idea._ He slapped on a mask of fury, charged at the Mist shinobi, and roared, "You creep, you take that back!"

The man just laughed at him, smacked him upside the head, and tossed him off the bridge.

She didn't know why she didn't freeze up at the time. She didn't know why her fears of getting killed or screwing up didn't hold her in place like they were supposed to. Maybe she just didn't want to see Naruto die again. Or maybe she was tired of being a coward.

With a burst of speed, Hinata raced down the bridge, jumped out into the air, and reached out to her friend, her teammate, her…

She planted her feet on his chest and, molding chakra into them, whispered her last words. "Goodbye, Naruto-kun."

The unwanted heir of the Hyuuga clan kicked him back toward the bridge where Kabuto-sensei caught him, and she plummeted into the river. On the way down, her sensei's words echoed through her head, _"If you are afraid to die…if you are afraid to live…"_

_I am not afraid,_ she realized, and when she splashed into the water, she was smiling.

* * *

Kabuto saw immediately what Hinata was trying to do after she jumped off the bridge, and when Naruto came flying back, he was ready. He snagged the genin by the ankle and tossed him back onto the bridge.

Hinata made a little splash far below. _It's amazing how fast these plans can unravel._ If he went after her, Kimimaro and Naruto would be outnumbered two to one. If he stayed and fought, Hinata might drown. Then a third idea came into his head. It was a gamble, but if it worked…

"Huh wha…?" Naruto slurred. "What happened?"

"Don't worry, Naruto," Kabuto assured him. "She's going to be just fine. All we have to do—"

"HINATA!" he screamed, throwing himself off the bridge after her.

"Naruto, no!" Kabuto felt a piece of cold metal plunge into his stomach.

"You know," suggested the Mist shinobi, ripping the kunai out across Kabuto's abdomen, "you really shouldn't let yourself get distracted."

* * *

He didn't really have a plan when he jumped off the bridge, and he definitely didn't think things through, but he never did before and things always worked out in the end. After his body smacked into the cold, frigid water and the current almost overwhelmed him, he started thinking that this might have been a bad idea.

He spotted Hinata floundering a ways downstream. "Hinata, you idiot! What were you thinking?!" At least, that's what he tried to say. It came out more like, "Hinata, please don't die!"

Hinata saw him, and she dropped her head underwater so she could scream without anyone hearing.

_Rope!_ he thought suddenly. He had some. That was one of the things he packed with him, just in case. He stuffed it in his knife bag. Naruto pulled out the rope and tied it through the hole in a kunai. "Hey, Hinata! Catch!"

The blade arced over her head and splashed into the water past her. She grabbed onto the rope and called back, "Now what?"

_Crap!_ His plan reached a dead end. They both had the rope, but what good did it do them? _If only we knew how to walk on water! But no, Doctor Specs wanted us to climb trees!_ He looked downstream and, behold, a waterfall. _CRAP! Whose sick idea was it to have a _waterfall_ here?_

But wait—he'd seen this before. People go over waterfalls all the time on tv, and they_always_ survive. _How?!_ That part…he couldn't remember exactly how. And he didn't have time either. Naruto gripped his rope tightly, for all the good it would do him, and they both went over.

That rope nearly pulled his arms out of his sockets, and he slammed into Hinata. Naruto looked up, and saw that the rope had gotten caught on a projecting rock. That was lucky, but the rope was wet and slippery and there was a ton of water pushing down on them.

"Hinata," he shouted over the roar of the falls. "Don't let go! Whatever you do, do not—" She let go. Or maybe he did. Or the rope just tore, and the two of them plummeted down into the water.

* * *

The Mist shinobi walked right over Kabuto as if he was no longer a threat just because he was disemboweled. It was amazing how many people made that mistake.

"I can't tell you how much your teamwork has impressed me, Kaguya," he laughed. That gave Kabuto enough time to seal his wound and perform Inyu Shometsu on himself.

"Arigato," Kabuto said, getting up. "I taught them that." He slammed a glowing, blue hand into the man's back, turning off his heart, and added, "Don't go for the slow kill if you don't have the patience to wait it through. Go for the fast one. It's not as much fun, but you live longer."

"Hirame-sensei!" one of his students shouted as the man fell dead to the floor.

"You don't miss him already, do you?" Kabuto smiled dangerously. "He may be dead, but I can fix that. Shikon no Jutsu!"

Hirame's corpse jerked wildly and got up. He looked at his three students, Tsuribari, Kubomi, and Mekajiki. Tsuribari's face was covered so he couldn't see his expression, but Kubomi was visibly startled. She'd have to get better at concealing her emotions. Beside her, Mekajiki stared back at him in gleeful awe.

Without understanding why, Hirame took a kunai in each hand and charged at his students, clearing the way for the white-haired man behind him. He stopped in front of Haku, tied up on the ground, and guarded the Leaf shinobi who cut him free. Hirame couldn't help but smile as he heard the man whisper words of hope in the boy' ear. Kids can be so gullible at that age.

As soon as Kabuto finished purging Haku's body of his debilitating poisons, he was done with the reanimated corpse, and he let him die a second time.

"Kimimaro?" he called to the other side of the bridge. "I have to go help the others. You and Haku can handle things here."

* * *

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed, falling through the air.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Hinata replied. At least, that's what Naruto thought she said. It was kind of hard to hear, what with the tumult of angry water below them.

_Splash!_ The impact of the cold water nearly knocked him out, but trying to breathe it woke him up again. The current pushed him all the way down to the stony river bottom, forward, and finally up to the surface.

_That wasn't so bad,_ Naruto though, breathing hungrily. Then, before he knew it, the waterfall caught him and pushed him down, forward, and up again. _What's going on?_ During the third time, he realized that he got caught in a series of currents. Unless he figured out how to get out of it, he would just struggle against the undertow of the waterfall until he runs out of energy and drowns.

"Blubaw Bwubub bo Booboo!" he shouted underwater, and dozens of kage bunshin filled the river. The river promptly tore them apart, and Naruto had to repeat the jutsu to the same hopeless effect. After the second batch, he had an idea. His ideas usually weren't that helpful, but what did he have to lose?

When the current pushed him down, he emptied his lungs. He sank like a stone and hit the bottom and got pushed forward, but he was too dense to get pushed up. Naruto grabbed onto the river bottom and walked his way out of the cycle. _Escaping the vicious cycle,_ he thought with a smile.

"Hey, Hinata!" he shouted when he climbed onto shore. "You alive?" No one answered. He looked back at the foot of the falls he just got out of. _Oh no._

* * *

Kubomi looked to one side of the bridge and saw the Kaguya. The entire clan was supposed to be extinct. After they threw themselves against the Village of the Mist, survivors were hunted down and no one had seen one in years. And yet, here one was, and back with a vengeance.

On the other side of the bridge, there was Zabuza's boy, Haku. She didn't know that much about him, but supposedly he could control ice, and anyone who could travel with the legendary Demon of the Mist _and_ hide from hunter nin for several years had to be something.

The three of them stood in the middle. How that happened, she wasn't exactly sure.

"This is so cool!" squealed Mekajiki. "Wait till I tell everyone that I've seen a real live zombie ninja! Well, not a _live_ one, technically, but still."

"Please, Mekajiki, not now!" Her teammate was freakishly powerful for such a little guy, but he could act like such a child. A very, very disturbed child. "Well, Tsuribari," she asked hopefully. "Any ideas?"

"Elemental advantage," he stated. "That means you."

"What?"

"Kaguya generally focus on taijutsu. Haku requires water for his Hyoton, but we'll be able to use our Suiton," he explained. "That means you."

"Hai!" Kubomi took out a pair of kunai and threw them at the two people at each side of the bridge. They jumped out of the way, predictably, as if the knives were meant for them. They didn't see the explosive note attached until it was too late.

* * *

It was a basic Kiri tactic. The Land of Water had a border entirely of rivers, and on those rivers there were hundreds of flimsy, extendible bridges. Whenever there was a war with another country, the Mist shinobi destroy the bridge to impede travel, or, in this case, to change the battlefield.

All five of them plummeted downward. All but Kimimaro dove into the water. Haku saw him when he came back up. He stood with a spike of bone hooking him to the rock face, keeping his distance from the river.

"Kimimaro-kun, do you know how to walk on water?"

He shook his head.

"It's like the tree climbing exercise, only opposite," Haku explained. "But wait. I think I can do something for you." He focused his chakra and spread it across the surface of the river, freezing it to ice.

Kimimaro dropped himself to the crystal sheet and slipped a little bit before learning the trick to walking on ice. It was just like climbing trees.

One of the Mist shinobi performed a jutsu, and Haku and Kimimaro were submerged in thick mist.

"What is this?" Kimimaro asked.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu," Haku explained. "Or something much like it. Zabuza-san used it a lot to blind his enemies and locate them by sound alone."

"That is correct," one of the Mist shinobi said. "But I'm not Zabuza, so forgive me if this comes out a bit sloppy."

"Kimimaro-kun, it is no coincidence that these people met your team near a waterfall," Haku whispered hurriedly. "They say that if you drown in one, your soul is stuck in there forever. I don't know if that's true or not, but water jutsu nearby become much more potent."

Kimimaro smiled. "If they're drawing on Naruto and Hinata's souls, then they'll be in for a surprise."

"Don't say that. I'm sure your friends are alive."

Kimimaro nodded. "Naruto can irritate me like no one else, but his is resilient."

Haku heard a sharp screech of metal on metal somewhere in the gray. He formed a series of long, thin icicles to use as weapons. They weren't senbon, but they were close. Haku saw a dark form in the fog and threw one at it, but it was nothing. Just an illusion.

Haku saw a few more dark forms before he caught on. "This isn't Kirigakure no Jutsu," he said. "It's close, but there's some genjutsu involved."

Then he attacked. The masked one with goggles, Tsuribari. He had two wide blades attached, not to his arms, but to his forearms. He slashed at Kimimaro, but he only connected and nothing more. His blades clacked against the Kaguya's subcutaneous layer of bone and stopped there.

Kimimaro almost retaliated; he almost a length of bone into the man's chest, but a huge wave fell on them, sweeping the three of them away.

* * *

Kimimaro breached the surface of the river for a breath of air as the current carried him off. He opened his eyes and saw a blue one and a brown one staring back at him.

"Hello, Kaguya," the boy said politely. "Do you like breathing?"

Kimimaro stabbed at him as he would swat a fly, but the boy jumped back nimbly on the water and formed a hand seal. "Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu!"

Water rose up and enveloped Kimimaro, imprisoning him inside the sphere. He tried to swim out, but the water pushed inward against him, almost crushing him with its pressure. But there was a trick to the jutsu; the boy kept his hand inside the sphere.

Kimimaro sprouted sharp points up and down his body, but it wasn't enough. He just needed to stretch, push it out a few more inches to reach the boy's hand.

"Uh, Kubomi?" he asked anxiously. "I need your help! What do I do?"

"Mekajiki!" shouted his teammate. "Let go before you lose your hand!"

"Oh. Okay!"

The prison broke and Kimimaro fell again into the river, but Haku grabbed him by the hand and pulled him onto a platform of ice. "I really hate fighting like this," Kimimaro muttered. He pulled a sword out of his shoulder. "Let's finish this."

* * *

Twenty Narutos scanned the water, looking for some sign of their friend. Naruto's hitaiate was also lost at the bottom of the river, but Hinata was more important. "There she is!" one shouted, pointing to the white of Hinata's jacket.

"Alright! Uzimaki Naruto Rescue Chain!" They linked together and as one entity reached out and caught what they were aiming for, but got nothing at all like what they wanted.

"Okay, here's her jacket, but where's the rest of her?" Naruto muttered. He was getting worried. He didn't know how long it takes you to drown, but Hinata was bound to be getting close. _Please don't die._

Then he saw her, floating in the current with the white foam. He caught her with his rescue chain, pulled her to shore, and released his superfluous shadow clones. But something was wrong. She wasn't moving.

"Hey, Hinata, wake up," he said. "I know you're tired, but seriously, you got to…Hinata?"

Nothing.

He put his fingers to her throat, but felt nothing. He felt his own throat for the spot where he could feel his pulse and felt around the same spot for hers, but still…

Nothing.

"Hinata?" he begged. "Please—please don't…"

She was dead.

* * *

On the other side of the waterfall, the battle was changing. Against the three Mist shinobi, Kimimaro and Haku were gaining the upper hand. Haku froze needles out of the mist and shot them at Tsuribari, clearing the view and slowing him down enough for Haku to catch him in his mirrors. It took only a few moments for Haku to put him in a coma. Tsuribari wasn't killed, but after the river took him, he'd have trouble breathing when he woke up.

Enough of the surface of the water was frozen for Kimimaro to catch his foe. When Mekajiki slipped on the ice, Kimimaro caught up with him, impaled him on his sword, and lifted him up in the air. He could see the boy's red life pour out of him, a crimson veneer upon his white blade.

A large, spinning piece of metal came flying towards him out of nowhere. Kimimaro ducked under it, dropping the body, and found himself in a cloud of thick mist. The fog cleared quickly, but it lasted long enough for the girl, Kubomi, to snag her teammate.

"Well, this sucks," slurred the boy dreamily. "I can't die like this. This was just a patrol mission. If I die on a patrol mission, it might haunt me for the rest of my life!"

"Shut-up, Mekajiki, you're not going to die, but you have to get out of here."

"What? You sure you can handle this, Kubomi?" he asked, trying to scoop up his blood and put it back in his wound.

"Oh, yeah, sure," she lied. "I can handle this just fine. But you have to go. And try to grab Tsuribari's body on the way."

"Okay," he complied. "If you say so." He dropped himself into the river and disappeared in the water.

"You can leave too, if you like," Haku offered. "If you leave us alone, we have no reason to harm you."

"Oh, please," she laughed bitterly. "You've been to Kiri, haven't you? You know what happens when you fail a mission. I think I'd rather deal with the two of you."

Haku started to reply, but then the three of them heard a bloodthirsty scream.

* * *

_Way to go, hero. That was one classy rescue!_

"Shut-up," he sobbed bitterly to himself.

"Naruto!" said a voice behind him. "Are you alright?"

Naruto looked behind him. "Kabuto-sensei!" he called hopefully. "I need your help. Hinata is—I think Hinata's hurt."

"What happened?" Kabuto asked, kneeling down beside her and checking her vitals.

"I don't know. When I pulled her out of the water, she just was like that. But you can…right?" he asked desperately. "I mean, you can fix her…can't you?" _"No problem, Naruto. She's going to be just fine."_ That's what Naruto wanted him to say. He would have given anything for him to say that. _Please…_

Kabuto dropped his head down and didn't meet his eyes. "Naruto," he said softly. "I think the others…need your help."

Naruto nodded and started to leave, but he couldn't. Even though she was on his team, he hardly knew her at all. She was always polite to him, but he always thought that she was just being friendly. Although, you don't throw yourself of a bridge for someone just to be friendly. She really was his friend.

_And now she's dead._

Blinded by tears, he ran.

_And it's all your fault. If you had managed to save her…if you hadn't gotten knocked off the bridge in the first place, this never would have happened. She would still be alive. _

_It's all your fault._

He couldn't do it. He was exhausted in every way imaginable. He didn't have the strength to keep on fighting. He didn't have enough for the Kiri nin, the incessant loneliness, nothing. But when he collapsed to the ground, he felt something evil stir within him.

* * *

_He woke up suddenly. Was there danger? No, just a smell. But is was such a smell! The creature rose up and breathed in deep. It was a desire, of course, but not the usual one. It wasn't hunger, lust, or even righteous fury. He laughed slightly at the revelation. _

_It was murder. _

_Yes, that was it. The desire to kill, to overpower an enemy and take his life—that smell flooded the prison. And that prison needed his help._

* * *

Naruto was exhausted. He didn't have the strength to keep fighting. But suddenly, he found a strength greater than his own. And that strength nearly destroyed him.

But it didn't. It consumed him. It filled him with power like he had never known. Power enough to achieve his desire. And right now, he wanted revenge.

He threw his head back and roared, he gave a cry that could chill Death himself. He would kill those responsible for the pain he was feeling, and maybe, just maybe, it would make him feel better.

He could sense where the others were, and he went to them. They stood on the frozen river: his teammate, his captive, and his foe. Before there were four Kiri, but now there was only one left, this one little girl to kill.

"Hello, Naruto," said one of them. "You seem vexed."

_Kimimaro._ He snarled at him. He never liked him anyway.

"I'm sorry," he said without feeling. "Would you like to kill the last one? You may, if you like. They're not very strong."

Naruto looked at the Kiri, and saw things different than he ever did before. Everything was clearer, but more than that, her weak flesh seemed to speak to him, _"Strike here, and end it quickly,"_ and _"Strike here, and cause her pain."_

He slammed his fist into her and sent her flying into the rock. Naruto went after her and decided to end it quickly. But then, a frozen mirror rose up out of the ice.

And he saw himself.

His eyes were wide, blood-red, and pitiless. His facial markings became thick, dark stripes across his face, and his mouth, open in a savage grin of anticipation, was filled with long, sharp fangs. He looked like…

A cold hand touched his neck. "Don't do this, Naruto-kun. This isn't who you are. A shinobi may kill when he has no choice, but you shouldn't enjoy it. You're not a monster."

_Yes, Haku,_ he thought, tightening he hand into a fist. _I am._ He hit him hard in the face, leaving him unconscious on the ice. _And don't get in my way._

The mirror shattered into nothing, leaving the human on the other side unprotected, looking up at him in fear.

He was done denying it. His entire village always looked at him, spoke to him, treated him like he was something to be hated and feared, like he was a monster. _If they want a monster, I'll give them a monster. That's what I am,_ he decided. But it wasn't what he wanted to be.

He hesitated, but in that moment, the girl rose up and threw a tagged kunai at the one person who couldn't defend himself, because Naruto knocked him out. Naruto stared dimly as the explosion enveloped Haku, shattered the ice, and sent his blasted carcass down into the river. He turned back to face the girl who did that, but—too late. She had already disappeared beneath the water.

He screamed, hating himself for the second person his stupidity had killed that day.

"Really, Naruto, this is the last time I'm going to ask you this. Are you alright?"

Naruto turned and stopped. "Kabuto-sensei," said Kimimaro. "You're back."

"Hello, Kimimaro," he said cheerfully. "I see you've finished things up here."

"K-Kabuto-sensei!" Naruto stuttered. "Haku's—"

"Haku's just fine."

"…what?"

"I switched the bodies. That girl blew up someone else's corpse. Some people died today, Naruto, but none of ours."

"But how…when…"_Some people died…none of ours._ "Hinata! So she's…"

"Yeah, she's fine," Kabuto said easily.

"But…she was dead."

"She wasn't dead, her heart just stopped," he corrected. "And by the way, they do teach you CPR at the academy, don't they?"

"Is _that_ what you did?"

"Naruto, cardio pulmonary resuscitation is what you use to support the victim until medical help arrives," he explained. "What _I_ did was—"

"Hold that thought!" Naruto jumped up to stand horizontally on the cliff face and ran toward the waterfall. He was going to see his friend.

* * *

"Hinata!" he yelled when he saw her, resting by the river. "You're alive! This is so cool!"

She smiled. "Hello, Naruto-kun."

"Hinata, I cannot tell you how glad I am that you're not dead!"

"Arigato, Naruto-kun," she laughed.

"Because my hitaiate is lost somewhere at the bottom of that river, and I know I can't find it on my own."

* * *

That night they again were in the village of Shoutaku. Through the thin walls of the inn, Hinata could hear Naruto snoring like a lion. He was so thrilled when Kabuto-sensei finally agreed to help him find his hitaiate, but Hinata was pretty sure Kabuto just pulled out an extra one when he wasn't looking. Not that she said anything.

In fact, she never said anything. She just quietly stayed in the back, saying nothing, doing nothing, only doing her best not to get in the way.

But those times were finished.

At least, they might be. It probably wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot at least. Kabuto-sensei would decide that.

The jounin wasn't too hard to find. Not for her, at least. Nothing was hidden from the Byukagan. He was out on a walk that night, or maybe wrapping up the mission perhaps. It wasn't any of her business.

"Kabuto-sensei?"

He turned and smiled. "Oh, hello, Hinata. What are you doing up?"

"Ano, I wanted to ask you…I was hoping that you could…" she stuttered, trying to make her voice sound…tough. She swallowed hard; no word fit her less than tough. "I want to learn medical ninjutsu!"

An awkward silence filled the air. "…I see. And why is that something that you suddenly want to learn?"

"Because I…I want to become stronger," she forced out. "I haven't done anything helpful this entire mission, and I can't fight like the others. But if you teach me to be a mednin, if you teach me how to heal, I know I won't be so useless."

Kabuto looked at her distantly. "Do you really think, Hinata, that it is harder to hold the lives of your enemies in your hands than your friends? Because it is not. It really is not."

"I know. But I'd rather hold their lives in my hands than have no choice but to do nothing when they need me."

"Medical ninjutsu isn't part of the Jyuuken," he pointed out. "Your father might not approve of you switching to less traditional methods."

"My _father_ does not approve of _me,_" she corrected him. "I don't think anything else I do will make much difference." Kabuto didn't say anything, as though he was inventing some kind way of putting down her idea gently. "I know what you're thinking, that I won't be any good, but I won't waste your time, I _promise._ I'll train harder than I ever have; I'll push myself further, if only you would…let me."

Kabuto's face broke into a smile. "I wasn't thinking that you wouldn't be any good. I was thinking that you'd be a natural. And I intend to cram your brain with everything I know, just a soon as we get back to Konoha."

* * *

He didn't move for a minute after Hinata left. It wouldn't do for her to remember something at the last moment and comeback. It was a dangerous game he was playing, being so close to the Byukagan. And yet, that Byukagan just might make that girl the most powerful mednin in history.

Kabuto departed quickly when he felt safe. He was running late, and there are some things that you just shouldn't keep waiting.

"Kabuto" came a feminine hiss. That was the only way he could tell the sexes apart, by the voice. "You've come."

_And speaking of dangerous games…_ "Yes," he said, keeping his voice relaxed. "And I have news."

He resisted a shudder as the body of a snake dropped from a branch to his shoulder. She wrapped her form around him, gently, sensuously, as always, so when the day came that he expired his usefulness, he wouldn't know until he couldn't breathe.

She was a white python, pale as death. According to myth, those snakes were messengers for the gods, and their master had a thing for myth, and an _obsession_ for other things.

"There was some friction between my team and the Mist. The Kiri know they can't handle a war, but it should push any serious alliance back a while."

Her scales rippled. Kabuto didn't know if that signified pleasure or laughter, but it was a good thing. Usually.

"But even better, I've found something." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. "Or rather, someone. I ran into a young boy that our master will be interested in. He is extremely talented and has a rare kekkei genkai." He slid the card underneath some of her scales. "And this boy wants something that only _he_ can give him."

* * *

Things look different at night, he was told. But tonight, things didn't look different. They looked more familiar than ever. It was the same path, Kimimaro realized. Kimimaro had been down this path three years ago, and this was the path that ran back towards his clan.

He was heading into a country that had tried to kill him the day before, and he was doing it alone. _Not the smartest thing you've ever done. _ No, smart wasn't the issue. It was safety. This was something that he had to do, but there was an element of danger.

The bridge over the river was destroyed. Namida river, by Ikari falls. But it was no problem. Kimimaro cleared the distance with a running leap easily. And he returned to the country of his birth.

He was born in this country, and he was raised by his clan, but it was a long time since either constituted for him a home. The void appeared some time after Ka-san died. Perhaps when Nii-san got killed, perhaps that was when his place here ceased, and he just didn't know it.

Regardless, he spent a long time in that hard, lightless cave. He spent that time entirely deserted, with only the regular trays of food to break the maddening isolation. Ka-san believed in some supernatural force, some direction in life that she tried to pass on to her children, but those years in darkness made him question. If God did exist, why would he leave him to suffer in shadows for all those years? What had _he_ done, as a child, to deserve such fate? He had fought in battle, it is true, and he killed some people, but so had the rest of the Kaguya. The village elders were the ones who caused the wars, and they continued to relish their freedom.

And yet, God had a sense of justice after all. Kimimaro arrived at the village of his bloodthirsty clan, and there was nothing. Just a few charred, moss covered foundations of their old structures were all that remained. One of the Mist shinobi mentioned something about the clan's destruction. But they weren't important. The clan stopped being important long ago. Kimimaro turned away from his former residence and set off to visit a grave.

Every now and then, Kimimaro heard someone say that God is in the rain, or in the sunshine, and it always made him want to laugh. God doesn't lounge around in pleasant sceneries; at least, not the God he found. He found God in a forsaken pit all those years ago, when a passing shinobi from a far off land was captured and thrown in with him. He found God in the darkness.

Amaru. He was buried where he died, marked by a tree with the symbol of fire carved into it. That's what the people who tracked down Amaru's body told him. And sure enough, Kimimaro found that mark, scratched into the surface of the bark.

It was fire, the symbol of his country and his village, that marked his grave, and not his name. Amaru was one of the many names he used, but none were his. He gave everything he was in the service of his village, of his home, and yet, in the end, he died to bring Kimimaro there.

Every life has meaning. Everyone is born with a purpose, something that only they can do. When Amaru gave Kimimaro a scroll and told him to deliver it to Konoha, was that _his_ purpose? Was that the purpose that he died—no, that he was _born_ to fulfill?

Kimimaro thought back on his family and his clan. The Kaguya wanted him to be the greatest warrior in history, but his family only wanted him to be happy. His family...their purpose was to make him who he was, and once that was accomplished, they died. The clan's purpose was to keep him safe and strong. After they lost him, they were destroyed. And if Amaru was born to bring him to the Village of the Leaves...

Why? What great purpose did he possess that it needed the death of so many? What could he possibly accomplish that could be worth an entire clan?

He looked again at the carving on the tree and glanced down. At the roots grew a small, white flower. He recognized that flower; it didn't come from this area, it was native only to the Country of Fire.

Kimimaro looked back on his life since he came to Konoha. It was a life that required fighting, just like life among the Kaguya, and yet, it was an entirely different life in the village. In Konoha...he was happy in Konoha. The air, the smell...his life was wonderful there. It was home.

And it was a home he was willing to serve. He could fight as a tool and a shinobi for Konoha, just as he did for the Kaguya, but in Konoha, he would fight and be free. And who knows? Maybe he would become the greatest warrior in history, and make the name Kaguya feared throughout the land, just as his clan had wanted. And he would do it as a human being and be happy, as Nii-san hoped.

_And maybe, Amaru, that's what you wanted when you sent me there._

* * *

_a/n Well, that's the last chapter of Dance of the Hidden Leaves. I mean it. That's the end. I'm about to become a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil for two years, so I had to finish this quick. I had wanted to end the story at the end of the Chunin Exams, but I guess that'll have to wait till the sequel, which I'll place under the title Konoha no Mai, if there's still interest._

_Anyway, thanks for everything. It would have been very boring to write this if no one reviewed this stuff. The quote at the beginning, you may notice, is part of the same poem I used in the first chapter. I hope I didn't make the fight too long or the ending too boring. I was trying to make it a kind of circle ending, pointing back to the beginning and at the same time pointing to the future. Or something. And if you didn't get the difference between Kimimaro's resolve in this chapter and the last, it's about source. In the last chapter, it came from habit and blind faith, in this one it came from himself. _

_For the sequel, if you have any advice on what you'd like to see happen, what you want me to keep up, anything, I'd like to hear it. I was trying to create something epic. I hope I did a good job._


	8. The End and the Beginning

Reader,

This is not a chapter. As you can see, it is quite short, and if it were a chapter, it would be pretty lame as far as chapters go. This is just a notice that the sequel under the title Konoha no Mai is up. Also I would just like to say thanks to all the people who took the time to read and leave a review on this story. It really made writing it a whole lot easier.

Slavok


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